ANCAPS RISE UP
http://archive.is/39qQB
>New Zealand is experiencing a surge of synthetic drug overdoses—but in response, the government has introduced a series of reform policies that include treating possession and consumption as public health issues while increasing enforcement against synthetic drug suppliers.
>Officials are also weighing the potential “full decriminalisation of drugs.”
>Certain synthetic substances believed to have caused recent overdoses will now be more strictly scheduled under the country’s drug laws, which will expand the search and seizure authority of law enforcement.
>But the government is also amending its Misuse of Drugs Act to specify that police “should not prosecute for possession and personal use where a therapeutic approach would be more beneficial, or there is no public interest in a prosecution.”
>The reform policies represent an immediate response, but government leaders also said that formal decriminalization, as recommended earlier this month by the New Zealand Mental Health and Addiction Inquiry, is still under consideration.
>In the meantime, new funds will be used to enhance addiction treatment centers, especially in regions where there’s a spike in overdoses.