Keeping Alcohol Legal While Restricting Legal Highs is "Farcical"

Comments made by health professionals in New Zealand, where the legality of substances like kronic are being debated.

Health professionals have told the Government that allowing the sale of alcohol while ruling out potentially less-damaging "legal highs" is farcical.

Products such as Kronic will have to be proven less damaging than existing recreational drugs including alcohol and tobacco under a proposed legal-high law, say documents obtained by the Herald under the Official Information Act.

The legislation, being crafted by Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne, aims to end the uncontrolled sale of untested products like Kronic.

It will establish a system under which manufacturers will pay up to about $2 million to have their substance proven "low risk".