Trip into unknown: Legal-high risk 'unnaceptable'

Legal highs readily available in Hawke's Bay present an "unacceptable level of risk to the public," the Law Commission says.
Products such as Kronic, Puff and Spice, which mostly resemble cannabis and are sometimes sold as pre-rolled joints, are widely available at dairies.
Of 12 visited by Hawke's Bay Today, seven sold the synthetic legal drugs.
The products usually contain synthetic chemicals similar to THC, the active component of cannabis, or substances from the naphthoylindole chemical group, including pain killers. .
Hastings Detective Sergeant Brent Greville said front-line police regularly dealt with people who were intoxicated on such drugs, often mixed with alcohol or other substances.
"They are putting themselves in risky positions because of it," Mr Greville said. "Because they're legal we're not looking at them but the impact we get is on front-line staff dealing with people out of control in clubs or on the street."
A Law Commission report looking at existing drug regulations said the public were being put at risk because new "psychoactive substances" could be made, imported and sold without restriction until proven harmful. It recommended all substances be restricted to people aged over 18.
The Government banned BZP, a popular party pill chemical, in 2007 and since then new drugs have been developed to get around those rules.
The Law Commission report said that pattern would continue as products were banned and new ones developed and imported.
The Kronic website invites people to "get high in style" and supports the drug being R18 and requiring a list of ingredients.
Staff at dairies which sold Kronic and similar products had them behind the counter and told Hawke's Bay Today they would not sell them to minors.
One dairy owner said sales had increased since the media started covering the issue.
GP Tony Farrell said he had been pleasantly surprised to learn that the website for Kronic emphasised safety and warned against using the product with alcohol.
"Alcohol companies do not label the dangers of their class B equivalent drug, but marketers of Kronic are at least trying not to hurt people who choose their low-risk drug," Dr Farrell said.
That did not make it risk-free, especially for the young people to whom many of such products were marketed, he said.
"Intoxication of young people is associated with more mental health and addiction problems.
"Keeping minors away from intoxication with Kronic and alcohol is paramount for healthy lives."
Dependence and withdrawal symptoms had been reported in heavy users, as was seen with cannabis, Dr Farrell said.
The National Poison Centre had received about 18 calls about Kronic since October, which was "an alert", toxicologist Dr Leo Schep said.
The Law Commission recommended that importers be required to gain permission to bring new synthetic drugs into the country, which would ensure they were safe.
Regular smoker Blair Anderson, of Christchurch, said proving something was "risk-free" was impossible and banning all new substances would push people towards cannabis and other illegal drugs.
"If you look at the controls we have on alcohol those are the right rules to control substances like Kronic," he said.
"The Law Commission report is useful but my concern is that they are pushing this through for the wrong reasons without seeing what the consequence could be."
- additional reporting Bay of Plenty Times