TIME TO SNUFF OUT FAKE CANNABIS

Concerns have quite rightly been raised over the availability of
"mind-bending" herbs being sold as legal highs.

Friday's Bay of Plenty Times carried the story of how one Bay mother
is upset her 18-year-old son turned up stoned after using the
synthetic cannabis product Kronic.

She phoned Otumoetai College after learning from him that it was being
sold at Bellevue Superette across the road from the school.

This R18 product is made from a mixture of dried herbs and is
available at about 20 outlets across the Western Bay.

Kronic, which can be bought as a "pre-rolled joint", usually contains
the 1,1-dimethyloctyl homologue of the substance CP 47,497 - a
synthetic substantially similar to the main active component of
cannabis tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

The woman says her son had slurred speech and he likened its effects
to cannabis.

This has raised concerns from Otumoetai College and Tauranga doctor
Tony Farrell.

The sale of these types of products is a legal loophole in the
country's otherwise sensible drug laws and raises the question of
whether they can be "gateway" drugs to stronger drugs.

Even the people behind Kronic admit that drug users use it to get
themselves off cannabis.

Proponents may argue this is a good thing but it needs to be noted
there is no regulation of this as a therapy.

There are two important issues to consider.

The first is: Should products such as Kronic be sold at all? The
second is if so, should they be available at dairies?

An urgent health and law enforcement assessment of these products is
needed to establish just how dangerous they are and whether they
should be further restricted or banned.

There seems little point in cannabis being illegal if people can
legally buy a similar, synthetic version of it and get high.