 Can you explain us why why it's New Zealand was the first country where this legal new legal tracks emerged in like Well, we've always had quite innovative people who go around and try and develop new products and we've got we've got one or two local leaders if you like in terms of the The the psychoactive substances industry what's become apparent since then has been a huge level of community concern about the impact of these Products and what was the best way of curbing demand and reducing the availability and that's why we've developed the response that we have Oh, they were the usual ones chronic They were they were the various names pineapple ecstasy you name it they had all these exotic names and they were They were always being Remarketed reformulated and they were causing a lot of harm to young people in particular and a lot of concern to Communities about their prevalence and their availability so we had to think quite long and hard about what our response was going to be to regulate the industry and We've we've taken a really a two-stage approach between 2011 and now We've acted on the basis of banning particular substances as they become known to us We've banned something in the order of 33 Different substances and over 50 products in that time. We can ban them for up to a year and We can extend the ban for a further year But beyond that we can't go so in August this year the first of the bans start to expire and By then we will have in place law Which turns the whole thing on its head It says that for any product to be sold or available in New Zealand It first will have to be proven to be safe in the same way that a new medicine Coming on to the market will have to be proven to be safe So that will put the owners of responsibility on the manufacturers and the suppliers to prove that what they are Producing is safe and we think what that will do is two things firstly No one's going to be interested in buying a safe product because you won't get the The sensation and secondly the process will be sufficiently costly because they will pay all the costs and sufficiently long To deter a number of manufacturers and suppliers from proceeding How do you assess the risks of At the moment under the present law which simply says we can ban them It's a very open-ended assessment It ultimately comes down to my decision as to whether I think they're dangerous or not and that could be a dangerous Situation to be in under the new law there will be an independent expert advisory committee established and an expert regulatory Regime put in place which will determine the criteria against which That assessment will be made There are a number of companies that are involved there's one major company, but we have a number of people around the fringes the Recognized industry if I can call them that Have been supportive of what we're doing because they say that their products will ultimately be proven to be safe Well, we will wait and see I think what they're more concerned about is getting rid of their competitors But there's no tolerance for them in New Zealand A lot of communities are very angry about the availability of these products They want to see them removed from shops They want to see them removed from being close to where their young people are and I think that our current law With the temporary bands has done a good job and cleaning out a lot of that But the longer-term situation is to be to put in place this permanent regime Which will say that anything that goes on the market has to be proven to be safe first Yes once that laws passed and assuming a product does come through as proven to be safe There will be regulations about where it could be sold The age to of the people to whom it can be sold how it can be promoted Etc. So even even if a product is proven to be safe There will still be a number of restrictions regarding the way in which it is promoted to the public Well, we don't know at this stage because we're doing something that no one else has done But what we believe will happen is that this will give us a much more comprehensive approach a Number of countries at the moment have long lists of products that they ban or long categories of products that they ban and The difficulty is that the manufacturers are sufficiently smart to be able to go away and reconstitute their products in such a way That they get around these bands So that was what led us to think we've got to turn this on its head and say We'll put the onus right back on you if you're probably you can prove what you're selling is safe Then yes, if you can't know now we think that will work because it It's going to be a very high test But until we actually see the process in place and that will be from August of this year We can't say for certain but what we what we do know is that the existing approach of Banning this one and then suddenly discovering that it's popped up over here and have to ban that and ban this one and ban the other is Is very messy and that's what we don't want to get caught up with So these are the regulatory measures and what about public health and social well public health is obviously a critical component in this We've had a lot of reports from our National Poison Center about Admissions to emergency rooms and public hospitals From the use of particular products. There's a huge amount of community concern, particularly among parents Interestingly enough in smaller towns rather than the major cities But obviously very strong concern the police have been involved because we've worked very closely with them But also what you're starting to see now is communities Taking their own actions pressuring retailers to stop selling products, which I think is good So they're taking ownership of the issue as well and saying that we just don't want these things in the shops in our town All the reaction here has been remarkably positive From governments from Mr. Fetitoff and his remarks yesterday to a meeting I had this morning with the international NGOs There's a lot of support for what we're doing a lot of belief that we're taking the right approach Everyone then says it will be very interesting to see how it works They they appreciate that this is to some extent experimental But they all acknowledge the point that we're probably taking bolder steps than anyone else And I get a sense that they all want to see us succeed and hopefully and we're not we're not seeking to campaign internationally on this But hopefully if the model works in New Zealand It's one that can be applied in other countries and certainly a lot of interest from many many countries From European countries from Asian countries from the United States Australia Etc about what we're doing and what the implications might be for them The risks of currently illegal drugs like for example Yeah, it's a very interesting point a number of people have said that if we if we go down this path for New psychoactive substances isn't it logical that the next step is to look at the illicit drugs and particularly cannabis in the same light It may well be logical And it may well be something that happens in the future, but it's not our intent at this stage Those drugs will still be governed under our misuse of drugs act will still be scheduled According to the degree of risk, but at some point in the future if this regime works It may well be you could look at saying well, maybe there's a benchmark there for other products But that's not what we're thinking at this point Thank you very much