Addicts use legal highs to sleep: Nurse

Addiction counsellors were encouraging some users to smoke the real thing. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Synthetic cannabis addicts often develop insomnia and rely on the drug to help them sleep, says a detox nurse.

BOP Addiction Service community detox nurse Nick White said people presenting for detox treatment were using at least one pack of synthetic cannabis a day but often smoked two or three times this amount.

His comments come after the Bay of Plenty Times reported addiction counsellors were encouraging some users to smoke the real thing.

The comments were contained in the Western Bay of Plenty District Council psychoactive substances policy stakeholders meeting report.

Representatives from BOP Addiction Services, which comes under the District Health Board, were listed as being at the stakeholders meeting.

Mr White said staff did not recommend the use of cannabis but their observations and recommendations from other treatment providers internationally suggested new synthetic substances were probably more harmful than cannabis itself.

Synthetic cannabis addicts tended to have a compulsive pattern of use and smoked throughout the day and night, Mr White said.

"Insomnia is a common complaint, with many reporting waking every two hours and having to smoke synthetics in order to return to sleep."

The service had noticed a small increase in referrals since the Psychoactive Substances Act was introduced in October, he said.