Synthetic cannabis returns

Kronic is back after sparking outrage last year.

The synthetic cannabis blend has been tweaked to get around a ban implemented last August. The new Kronic is named Pineapple Express.

"This blend is not for the inexperienced but will deliver that smooth ride and masterful quality that any regular smoker craves - get ready for the next level, man," a site selling Kronic announced. Pineapple Express went on sale on June 26.

Last year, Parliament banned synthetic cannabinoids, including Kronic, for 12 months.

Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne said making sure young people were "no longer fair game for synthetic-cannabis makers" was one of his proudest achievements.

"Yes, I killed Kronic," Dunne wrote in a letter to a newspaper last November, but a raft of synthetic dope products have resurfaced.

The ban elapses next month but a spokesman from Dunne's office said the ban could "roll over" into 2013.

The spokesman said new Kronic-type products still popped up but less frequently than before prohibition.

A central Auckland dairy owner, Jay Min, said he'd sell the new, legal Kronic if he could get it from the distributor.

"It was popular," Min said. "We'd stock it. But I won't promote it."

Owners of the MindFuel website, where Pineapple Express was promoted, wouldn't confirm the new blend's make-up.