Mosgiel residents would like to see the town's only retailer of synthetic cannabis stop selling it, but they are stopping short of a protest.
The Gordon Rd store, which was formerly known as Cheap Smokes and Cigars, but does not now appear to have a name, is the only one in Mosgiel to stock the controversial products.
An application of a Chen Gai, who lists the East Taieri Dairy as his service address, is still being processed by the Ministry of Health.
A ministry website lists Rey Graham Murphie, the owner of the first store, as the only Mosgiel retailer to have so far received an interim licence to sell the products since the introduction of the Psychoactive Substances Bill.
The decision has some calling for a boycott of the store.
However, though the community appears to be concerned about the harmful effects of synthetic cannabis, people say they are torn about whether it should be sold, given its legal status and the right of licensed operators to sell it under new regulations.
The parents of two young Mosgiel men struggling publicly with their addictions, including to synthetic cannabis, say they would like to see the community boycott the store, but say campaigning to shut it down, like protests seen recently in Greymouth, is pointless.
Carol Pine, who campaigned to ban the products after her son David ended up in prison, said it would be good it was not available in Mosgiel, but ''we're never going to get rid of it completely''.
People would just go elsewhere if one store was shut down.
''If you had a lynch mob, we'd be not better than them. I think the only thing we can do is boycott the shops - don't go in there for anything else.''
Stephen Jury, the father of Jamie Jury, a teen addicted to synthetic cannabis who was badly burned when a LPG canister exploded while he was huffing LPG, said his son was still one of the shop's main customers.
He had wanted to see the stuff banned altogether and thought it was still too easy for people to get.
''It should have been illegal. You only have to see what it's done to my life,'' Mr Jury said.
One resident spoken to said he had decided himself to boycott the store, and had cancelled a regular order of tobacco cigarettes in protest.
Most retailers spoken to were reticent to be named for fear of retribution locally on their position, one way or another, although all said no-one liked the products being available in the community.
Paul Baines, of Ray White Real Estate, said people were concerned because of the stories they had heard about how the substances had affected people.
''It just shouldn't be allowed, because of the damage it causes.
''It should be stopped.''
If someone started a campaign to rid Mosgiel of the substance ''everyone would join it'', he said.
It was a real bind, another said, because on a moral level people were against it, given the harm it caused, yet legally people were able to sell it, like alcohol or cigarettes.
It then had to come down to people making the personal choice whether to go into the shop, he said.
Those spoken to said Mr Murphie was well-known and also did good work for the community.
Mr Murphie declined to comment when contacted and referred the reporter to an industry spokesman.
Mr Murphie last week told a synthetic cannabis seminar in Dunedin that some people should be banned from buying synthetic cannabis.
When approached at the meeting he declined to comment further, and asked not to be named, although he is listed on a public website as a retailer.
Mosgiel Business Association president Blair Arthur said members of the association had raised the issue as a concern, and a response would be discussed at the association's next meeting.
