Parents unaware of risk, says rehab expert

The legal herbal high Kronic. Photo / Greg Bowker

A health professional who has seen the destructive effects of synthetic drugs such as Kronic believes parents are largely unaware of the dangers.

Tom Claunch, co-founder of Capri Trust, a rehabilitation clinic in east Auckland, said that although no comprehensive study had been done, more and more research pointed to the drugs' potential harm.

"[The research] indicates it's much more damaging brain damage-wise than the cannabis itself. There have been cases where users have had psychotic episodes."

Mr Claunch said researchers at the Naval Medical Centre in San Diego, California, recently tracked 10 users who suffered from insomnia, hallucinations and paranoia and became suicidal.

Natural cannabis varied wildly in strength, he said, but "I think the artificial stuff compared to the average junk off the street is probably stronger and more brain-damaging".

The Capri Trust is treating two users of synthetic cannabinoids, but Mr Claunch said he was receiving an increasing number of calls from worried parents.

"They're saying, 'My kid's smoking this stuff and they're telling me it's legal because they can buy it at the dairy, and therefore it can't be bad for them.'

"We need to publicise how dangerous this is."

Mr Claunch is scathing about the present R18 age restriction.

"We know underage kids are buying it. But even if they weren't, an 18-year-old walks into a dairy with a whole bunch of his 16-year-old friends, then it just gets passed around."

If a particular food was making people sick, a temporary ban on its sale could be imposed immediately, Mr Claunch said, and the same should happen with synthetic cannabis products.