Perhaps the thorniest question in the drug prohibition debate is what legalization and regulation would look like. Of course, there’s no blueprint that will work for every country—each place has its own appetites, secret economies, and problems, so each place will have to begin to work on legalization on its own terms. New Zealand has just taken a very sensible step in curbing the dangers of its unregulated drug market by addressing designer drugs.
Designer drugs are much more popular there than in other countries for climate and remoteness reasons, so the government is starting with them. From the Economist:
Conventional hard drugs are scarce in the country, because traffickers have little interest in serving 4m people far out in the South Pacific. Kiwis therefore make their own synthetic drugs, which they take in greater quantity than virtually anyone else. The government shuts down more crystal-meth labs there than anywhere bar America and Ukraine. But the business has adapted. First it turned to benzylpiperazine, which a third of young New Zealanders have tried. When that was banned in 2008, dealers found plenty of other chemicals to peddle. Today the most popular highs are synthetic cannabinoids, which pack a harder punch than ordinary cannabis.
Sick of trying to keep up with drugmakers, the government is trying a new tack. Last month a law was passed which offers drug designers the chance of getting official approval for their products. If they can persuade a new “Psychoactive Substances Regulatory Authority” that their pills and powders are low risk, they will be licensed to market them, whether or not they get people high. Drugs will have to undergo clinical trials, which the government expects to take around 18 months—much less than for medicines, because the drugs will be tested only for toxicity, not for efficacy. Drugs that are already banned internationally, such as cocaine and cannabis, are ineligible. Only licensed shops will sell the drugs, without advertising and not to children.
Good on them for taking that first step. They won’t regret it—letting the government test for toxicity instead of relying on the good faith of illegal basement chemists can only improve matters.
Thanks to Slogger Ken Mehlman for bringing it to my attention.
