The Salvation Army supports the passing of this Bill into law. We believe these illegal psychoactive substances are a real blight in our society and are causing severe harm to our local communities. Through our network of drug treatment services across New Zealand, The Salvation Army has clearly seen the massive destruction these substances are having on people.
Therefore, we sincerely hope that this increased sentence will act as an effective deterrent that will greatly reduce the supply and distribution of illicit psychoactive substances in our communities.
However, we submit that equally important to the increase in penalty for those selling or supplying these substances are other critical issues that must be considered in this wider debate.