Matamata-Piako District Council

Legal Highs Policy (Local Approved Products Policy)

Last Updated: Monday, 22 April 2024 08:29 | Published: Wednesday, 21 September 2022 14:20 | Print | Email

Please note that this consultation has now closed, thank you to everyone who made a submission.

Our Legal Highs Policy (Local Approved Products Policy) is a set of policy criteria and decisions made by Council in consultation with its community which may restrict the location of premises selling psychoactive products in our district.

Whilst there are no “legal highs” that are legally available for sale in New Zealand, we still think it’s a good idea to continue to have this Policy in place so that there are rules about where a premises may be located.

What's included in the policy?

We are required to review the Legal Highs Policy every five years. Council is proposing to continue with its Policy to proactively regulate the sale of approved products (psychoactive substances) within the district.

The Policy contains provisions to protect the community including:

A 300 metre distance restriction between retail premises selling legal highs.
25 metre distance restriction from sensitive sites including churches, preschools, schools and community facilities.

Are we proposing any changes to the Policy?

We are proposing to mainly leave the current Policy as is (status quo), apart from some minor housekeeping changes. We want to know if any changes are required to meet the needs of the community.

We are not making any changes to the areas where licensed premises can be permitted, nor the areas detailing sensitive sites. No changes are proposed to the buffer zone distances.