A recent Government Report mentioned the possibility of testing party pills on animals in NZ and since then, then Minister of Health, David Clark has refused to say anything more than "amending the Psychoactive Substances Act is not on the Government’s agenda".

This is promising but isn’t a solid response explicitly stating that animal testing won’t be happening.

The amendment of the Act not being on the government's “agenda” isn't a strong commitment by any means. For example, this doesn’t stop it from being on their agenda a month from now. It also doesn’t stop animal testing from being introduced another way.

Given the review conducted by the Ministry and the reference to animal testing, we are taking this seriously and we need to have a definitive statement from the minister to be reassured that testing psychoactive substances won't be in the future for NZ. 

We are urging people to send a message asking the NZ Government to commit to keeping party pills away from animals and to keep the focus on pursuing other means of reducing drug harm!

We need solid confirmation that the ban on testing psychoactive substances on animals will remain firmly in place. If the government's commitment to keeping party pills away from animals is genuine, then a public statement from the Minister or another member of Parliament should be easy to do.