Concern is building amongst Raglanders about the Waikato District Council’s proposal to allow sale of ‘legal highs’ in Bow St. Raglan 23 has been told of local groups discussing this. Although there has been extensive coverage of objection to a similar proposal in Hamilton, Raglan locals are surprised at the lack of coverage in print media about the Bow St proposal. As WDC’s proposal for Raglan is buried on page 14 of a multipage report, we’ve been asked to bring the facts into the open.
The Waikato Council’s proposal would see these businesses being allowed to sell ‘legal highs’ (Psychoactive Substances):
- Raglan SuperValue #
- Bow St Studios
- Harbourview Hotel #
- Raglan Service Station
- The Shack #
- Jet Collective
- Raglan Real Estate (Ray White)
See map below for full details. The locations marked with a # currently are licensed to sell liquor. The ‘legal highs’ law does permit locations licensed for liquor sales to also sell ‘legal highs’. So for some quirky reason, WDC has advocated that ‘legal highs’ be sold at these locations that could only be licensed to sell Psychoactive Substances if they surrender their liquor licenses.
The Council seems to believe that children do not visit these areas and therefore these locations are not ‘sensitive sites’. Raglan 23 believes that the whole of Bow St and surrounding streets should be declared a ‘sensitive site’.
The only way this proposal will be changed is to lodge a submission. Download one here or pick one up from the Council office.
| Submission form |
| Open from Tuesday, 14 January 2014 to Monday, 17 February 2014 |
Waikato District Council wants feedback from the public on a proposed Psychoactive Substances (Local Approved Products) Policy which aims to keep the sale of legal highs out of residential neighbourhoods and away from sensitive sites such as schools.
The proposals seem inconsistent (quirky?). They could be interpreted as including the whole CBD and not just those marked on the map. Apart from the map only one reference is made to CCTV and that not in the proposed rules. Odd too that Harbour View is shown on the map as a possible outlet, though its rear entrance is only about 30 metres from the kindy. The evidence seems to be building that the artificial highs are more harmful than cannabis, so maybe the law won’t be in place for long?