Regulatory impact statement
This regulatory impact statement discusses the Psychoactive Substances Amendment Act. The Amendment Act terminates transitional arrangements that allowed psychoactive products to receive an interim approval under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2013 (the Act). These interim approvals have allowed for psychoactive products to be sold to the public on the understanding that they are low risk, but without a formal assessment of their safety. Interim retail and wholesale licences are because there will be no products to sell.
Since the commencement of the Act in July 2013, there have been continuing concerns about the harms associated with the use of products with interim approvals, largely in relation to synthetic cannabis. While the Psychoactive Substances Regulatory Authority can act quickly to recall products off the market following reports of adverse reactions, this requires evidence of harm associated with specific named products. For many of the reports to the NPC and the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring, it has not been possible to attribute reactions to a specific product and reports are generally a generic reference to ‘synthetic cannabis’. This means that the powers of the Authority are curtailed preventing the Authority from removing products from the market and to date, only 12 products have been recalled in this way.
The amendment Act also clarifies that the use of animals for the purpose of testing psychoactive products is prohibited.
The amendment Act also provides that the Crown is not liable for compensation or damages as a result of the amendment.
No formal review of this proposal is planned. A joint agency committee, consisting of representatives of New Zealand Police and Customs together with the Ministries of Health and Justice will monitor the effects of the change and agree a response to any issues arising.