Creative Kiwis . . .

DESIGNER DRUGS ARE BIG in New Zealand, according to a post on The Economist, “A New Prescription”, and the Kiwi government has had to come to terms with the situation. Unlike Stevie and the CONs, for whom prisons are perfection, the Kiwis have decided that regulation and taxation is the only sustainable policy.

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.