Editorial: Profit all the drug dealers care for

Linda Hall, Assistant Editor, Hawke's Bay Today.

Auckland is not the only place where synthetic cannabis is causing major concern.
Police have confirmed, in a Facebook post, that it's also a big problem right here in Hawke's Bay.

They say they are regularly having to deal with people who have taken these drugs.

Police say there are lots of home-made "synnies" circulating and that sellers have actually told them they make them with dried herbs bought from supermarkets, then they spray them with kitchen cleaner and add a dose of rat poison - yes, poison. Police said horse tranquilisers have also been used.

Users are having fits, hallucinations, ending up in comas and being left with long-term brain damage.

People are dying from these "drugs" and it's no wonder - rat poison and horse tranquiliser - the latter that worries me the most.

Vets don't study for years for nothing. They know the precise amount to prescribe to put a big, powerful horse to sleep without causing any harm.

These "cowboys" making the "synnies" obviously have no clue about dosages. They don't care, either.

All they care about is getting paid. I don't know how much these "synnies" cost but I imagine a few dried herbs and a spray of this or that wouldn't cost much at all. Sellers will be making a big, fat profit.

They don't give a damn about the user.

So while the police are asking family and friends of users to warn them about taking these synthetic drugs, I think we should also be asking friends and family of sellers to think about what they are doing.

Think about people dying and being left with brain damage. How would they feel if that was someone in their family?