Hi,
My name is Matt, I started Stargate, we have a website here for more info:
www.stargate.org.nz
The overall message of the designerpills website at the moment is "talk to the hand" - we're not open yet. Sorry we can't ship to Australia.
Reading from the top of the thread there was a lot of that "THIS IS GOING TO ALL BE ILLEGAL SOON" expectation. I'm happy to say that we're well past that phase now.
To give some context to an explanation of what has happened, NZ's government didn't buy into the "WAR ON TERROR" refusing to go into a war when the evidence to do so looked a bit light. Those at the top of our drug policy groups also view moves to treat drug issues with "WAR" in a similar light.
Our drug policy (which is available for viewing here:
www.ndp.govt.nz) is one of harm minimisation. It is part of the HEALTH portfolio, so the issue is seen as one of reducing public health risk.
When we began with BZP it was at a time when NZ was seeing significant harm spreading quickly from the availability and enthusiasm for smokable methamphetamine.
In the clubbing scene we saw a shift from ecstasy to smokable and in some places injected meth and kiwis just were not ready for the results. Many people losing jobs, family, houses, primary relationships, many of us had friends lose their lives from drug usage which was quite new to us. (Smack isn't common here.) It's a small country, so when a few people die it's a major. We started using BZP instead as a replacement for the stimulation of meth, to keep the scene going and give people an alternative with lower addictive potential to use in the social sense.
Our drug policy calls for members of the public to come forward with solutions to reduce demand for illegal drugs. The most obvious way to me was to produce safer legal, non-addictive alternatives. The legality was said by many to be a "grey" area so we consulted government on it to get some feedback, to present it as a solution.
I met with our Minister for Drug Policy, Hon Jim Anderton and his panel of advisors and it was agreed that government would remain evidence based and give it a risk assessment. He commented to me that he knew it was not right to "continue on with prohibition" as the lessons from American history last century were that "they tried that with alcohol and it gave them Al Capone."
The representatives of "LEAP" (law enforcement against prohibition
www.leap.cc) had met with him a few weeks previously and the number of unusual events in NZ from horrific murders, suicides and violent crime not normally seen in NZ was significantly higher than usual with widespread smoking of, and heavy increase in i.v. usage of, badly made crystal methamphetamine. We were ready to try something new.
The Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs agreed that a legitimate industry producing safer alternatives in a regulated framework was an acceptable harm reduction initiative.
It is still early days, it's only been 5 years and we only have the first stages of legislation, the statute, but it has the new "FOURTH SCHEDULE" so we have Class A, B and C drugs being illegal and CLASS D drugs being "non traditional designer susbtances taken for psychotropic purposes" having an R18 restriction on them, this has been through parliament and is active law now, and the next part of law, the REGULATIONS are being developed in consultation with industry, (and the public etc).
We've had to do a lot of work with our officials and taken high level professional media and legal advice, and to engage the media on all levels with a solid message backed up by people in authority to grin and bear it, this is the way forward and the long term benefit is a reduction in health risk. The messaging has been vital to keep public opinion at a place where the politicians are confident to move forward and to destigmatise recreational drug usage in our country.
Hope that makes sense.
Best Regards,
Matt Bowden.
Stargate
I haven't read the report, though - have the press got it wrong? (surely not....).