At its International Drug Policy Symposium in Auckland this week, the New Zealand Drug Foundation shone the spotlight "through the maze" on cannabis.
As The Wireless' own Megan Whelan reported from the conference, "The question seems to be how to legislate, or regulate, a "moderately harmful" drug, when the views on it are so polarised."
Meanwhile, Australian psychologist Stephen Bright told Radio New Zealand's Nine to Noon programme the world was watching New Zealand to gauge the efficacy of the Psychoactive Substances Act, which came into effect earlier this year and places restrictions on the manufacturing and the sale of synthetic drugs.
Bright said it was a step in the right direction in preventing the merry-go-round of banning new drugs, only to have new ones enter the market.
"Some of my research is showing that banning individual chemicals such as New Zealand was doing a few years ago ... makes the situation worse," he says. "Internationally, the eyes are on New Zealand at the moment.
"I think most people would really like to see this work, because that it would provide a good rationale for other countries to try this alternative approach."
We'll be covering cannabis, addiction and the Psychoactive Substances Act in greater depth in the coming months.
Stuff.co.nz has also been preoccupied with matters of substances with its coverage of the Global Drug Survey, which aims to map drug use around the world through "qualitative and quantitative, non-judgmental, informative and confidential drug surveys".
You can join more than 53,000 others in taking the survey here, and read Stuff.co.nz (and Stuff Nation) coverage here.