"This is not a small group of kids who are addicts, from what we know this is massive and it's not just Maraenui."
When synthetic highs were taken off shelves, demand for psychoactive substances increased markedly and local manufacturers were there to meet the need.
Increased availability has led to the development of habits so serious some smoke the substance every hour in order to sleep at night, while police and agencies have found kids lying on their backs and shaking "like a fly sprayed with fly spray".
They were constantly encountering addicts with a complete inability to communicate, respond or hold a train of thought and who often became irrational.
Some of the most disturbing scenes were those where young people under the influence committed heinous crimes. In Maraenui alone there had been two sexual assaults, violent attacks ranging from serious to grievous and numerous domestic incidents, as a result of the drug.
Police are dealing with much of the fallout which they say is yet to filter through to the health system.
In many cases there's no support because families are unsure how to cope with the issue or do not want to dob in dealers who are known to them.
"The first issue was legalised cannabis, everybody thought 'it's legal it must be safe', it created a market then they made it stronger and stronger - more people addicted means better profits.
"Potencies are being ramped up, it's sheer greed, it's big big money, they are selling it to their own whanau and poisoning their own communities."
The trade was taking money from pockets of the most at risk - those who could least afford it.
This week police seized several kilos of illegally manufactured psychoactive substances, more than $10,000 cash and firearms. Twelve houses in Napier and Hastings were searched, including properties in Maraenui, Onekawa, Taradale and Havelock North.
Possession of psychoactive substances for supply carries a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment and/or a $5000 fine.
Detective Inspector Mike Foster hopes it will send a clear message to dealers that law enforcement is not willing to tolerate them "preying" on vulnerable members of society.
"[These kids] have no idea what is in it or what it could do to them. The first step is awareness of what people are ingesting, of what they are putting in their bodies," he said.
"The second step is something we have already started doing and that is enforcement - we will charge them, we will lock them up, we will take their assets and communities will be made aware that this stuff is not okay."
Hundreds of different substances are used to lace tobacco leaves or other herbs, but when lab manufactured chemicals weren't available anything from household cleaner to weed killer acts as a substitute.
"We don't always know what's in it what we do know is it's incredibly strong, we have had reports that it is a hundred to one thousand times stronger than cannabis," Mr Donnison said.
"It's an approach to get people hooked young they have no ability to say 'no', a lot of these kids are funding the habit by stealing from whanau or committing burglaries."
Medical professionals were unwilling to comment as they did not know enough about the substance or exactly what was in it.
Flaxmere community leader and Hastings District Councillor Henare O'Keefe said it was an age old issue, which manifested itself at a lower level with children sniffing petrol, spray on deodorant or fly spray.
The problem was not only surface deep but started with the need to fill a "void" and was best tackled at ground level - in the home.
"No matter what the social ill, you really have to go back to basics, to mum and dad, the answer is valid as the side effects, it can not be legislated.
"We have got to find champions within the community, within the home they have to go where angels fear to tread. It takes courage you have got to trumpet it from the rooftops, there's always backlash unfortunately, but you have to be willing to go through it."
