Editorial: Risky, illegal mean unsafe

There's a reason ecstasy is a classed as a high-risk, illegal drug. Photo / File

The issues caused by synthetic cannabis haven't gone away since the ban on psychoactive drugs.

On Tuesday the Bay of Plenty Times reported that the drugs had been forced on to the black market instead.

It was bound to happen.

This has reignited discussion about whether they should have been made illegal in the first place. Some say it should be legal so we can better regulate the products. I am on the other side and fully support the ban.

Synthetic cannabis is dangerous and not enough is known about what it does to people.

But Get Smart Tauranga manager Stuart Caldwell said it was a huge relief when the Government finally passed the law banning formerly legal highs.

"Every week while they were available we would have distraught mothers calling us, usually about their teenage sons."

I have heard horror stories from people who used the drugs about the desperate state it had left them in.

In 2013 the Bay of Plenty Times talked to two teenagers who used Kryptonite and said it left them vomiting with no control over their muscles or bodily functions. In the week after they used the drug they said they experienced hallucinations, could not eat or sleep and could not distinguish between hot and cold water.

Hospital discharge forms said they had ecstasy poisoning but they claimed they had never taken ecstasy, only Kryptonite.

There's a reason ecstasy is a classed as a high-risk, illegal drug. Anything that dangerous should undoubtedly also be illegal.

Yes, some people will still continue to use it but there will be others who decide not to try it because it is illegal.

Making it illegal is a strong warning that it is not safe.

No one knows what is in synthetic cannabis products or what the combination of those ingredients will do.

The law does allow certain products to be sold legally if the producer can prove it is safe.

That is the sensible way to deal with it.

Until it is proven safe we should be doing everything possible to discourage people from using the drugs.