Four outlets in Oamaru have stocked legal high products, but Senior Constable Bruce Dow said the town had ''missed a golden opportunity'' to be the first in New Zealand to declare itself synthetic cannabinoid free.
''I visited all four retailers last year and three out of four agreed to stop selling if the others would agree, but the fourth refused to agree, claiming the other three wouldn't stop, which may or may not be true.
''Had the retailers not been so greedy ... Oamaru could have declared itself free of these dangerous products.''
Since December, regular protests have been held outside Oamaru dairies known to sell legal highs, and a newly formed working group was ready to implement a ''plan of action'' to further highlight the dangers of the substances.
Waitaki Safer Communities Legal High Working Group chairwoman Helen Algar said the group was a ''coalition of agencies'', and included police among its members.
''We are distributing information resource packs to retailers, community groups and schools and they will have factual information about the effects and impacts as well as some personal stories and examples of how this has impacted on our emergency services and courts.''
She applauded the introduction of Psychoactive Substances Bill, which would receive its third and final hearing in Parliament tomorrow.
However, though the Bill would remove legal highs from dairy shelves and ''non-specialist shops'' if passed, she said the problem was not going to go away.
''We need to be educating people about it.
''It's really the only tool we have right now.''
Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean said the products had continued to cause ''considerable concern'' to parents as well as increasing levels of harm to those who took them, but new legislation was ''just days'' away from providing communities with greater protection from the substances.
''Parliament's priority is to ensure the risks from these products are absolutely minimal.''
Attempts to contact dairy owners yesterday were unsuccessful, but the Otago Daily Times understands Meadowbank Dairy had recently stopped selling the K2 synthetic cannabis product.
Tobacconists would be exempt from the proposed new law, but Pamela Kennedy who owns the Puff 'n Stuff in Chelmer St, she said she had not stocked synthetic cannabis since last December.
''I stopped selling it because I didn't like what it was doing to some of our local people.''
