A psychoactive substances watchdog group is being set up in Tauranga in the wake of the Government's plans to ban all legal highs.

Plans to form the group came after Associate Health Minister Peter Dunn announced the Government is pulling all legal highs from licenced shelves in two weeks' time.

Tauranga Safe City co-ordinator Mike Mills is working to form a watchdog group in the wake of the total ban of synthetic drugs.

The drugs will only be allowed back on the shelves if they are proven to be 'low risk”.

Tauranga Safe City co-ordinator Mike Mills and Western Bay councillor Margaret Murray-Benge originally organised a public meeting about the synthetic drugs and their impact on the community to take place tomorrow night.

Mike says following the Government's announcement the group have gone back to the drawing board and are postponing the meeting.

He says the nucleus of those responsible for putting on the public meeting will now form the Psychoactive Substances Watchdog Group.

The group will monitor the clinical, criminal and community impacts of the legislative changes.

'[Our] watchdog group will meet with Simon Bridges on Wednesday and will be promoting access to therapeutic support to people who want to quit and so on,” says Mike.

'It's about trying to be responsive now and saying ‘look okay at least for the time being the stuff is off the shelves, but we need to deal with the wreckage.”

The group was initially formed as a 'starting point” by Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty councillors and health officials.

Mike says anyone with information to share is welcome to pass it on or participate as an active member.

'It's not an exclusive or closed shop by any stretch, it's just a starting point and anyone who feels strongly about it and wants to stay in that loop we would welcome their participation.

'We just need to be vigilant about this. They are buying time really the Government and you still get the feeling they are going to come back and hoist this on us.”

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges says despite the larger scale meeting being postponed, he will still sit down with members of the yet to be formed watchdog group to discuss any 'wider issues” for a community that has been 'deeply concerned” by the drug.

'This has been an issue that I have had a lot of contact from Tauranga people with huge concern about.”

Simon says a number of mums with children caught up in the drug have also contacted him wanting it banned.

'These so-called legal highs becoming illegal are now going to be little different from other illegal drugs. But we just have to make sure we can police them well and ensure as few as possible people go near them.”

Get Smart Tauranga manager Stuart Caldwell is pleased with the outcome of the government's decision, but is also sceptical of what the fallout could be in the next two weeks.

Already there is concern the ban could prompt people to seek ‘highs' in more dangerous ways, and encourage black-market trade in synthetics while others are questioning what alternatives there will be once the legal highs are off the shelves.

'What needs to be said here is that this is not going to be the drug of choice as tobacco and alcohol have been. The reason I use these two is they are legal and we have no culture around it so it's totally appropriate that it's banned,” says Stuart.