A SYNTHETIC cannabis that mimics the effects of marijuana is being sold legally at a growing number of adult shops, tobacconists and herbal retailers.
Health experts fear users of the drug, with the street name Kronic, face the same adverse effects of cannabis including heart palpitations, severe hallucinations, delusions and psychosis.
The legal weed, potentially up to 100 times stronger than regular cannabis, has been available online in Australia for about two years.
But after reports emerged of its widespread use in the mining industry - where it does not show up in on-site drug tests - retailers have rushed to cash in on its increasing popularity.
A mix of herbs and chemicals, Kronic contains synthetic cannabinoids, which mimic the effects of regular cannabis to produce reported feelings of euphoria and relaxation. But it does not contain THC, the main psychoactive compound in regular cannabis that makes it a prohibited drug in Australia.
Unlike other low-key synthetic cannabis products such as K2 or Spice,Kronic's blatant pitch is to get smokers "high".
National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre director Jan Copeland said synthetic cannabis substitutes like Kronic were originally designed to be used on laboratory rats.
"People have no idea what they're smoking," she said.
Professor Copeland said overseas research found long-term use could lead to "nasty withdrawals similar to cannabis but also heroin".
"When something is sold as legal, herbal and, god forbid, natural, it makes it easier for young people to want to try it," she said.
Users should be concerned about products promoted as being legal, with the same effects as an illegal drug, "as little was known about the short and long-term harms", said a Health and Ageing Department spokeswoman.
"The ingredients in these products are often not disclosed and their health effects are not known," she said.
But a spokesman for Kronic's New Zealand manufacturer Light Years said the type of young people likely to smoke cannabis would think Kronic was "uncool" because it was legal.
"The demographic (for Kronic) is older people who may have smoked a bit of pot in their younger days but do not want to risk their jobs or a criminal conviction," the spokesman said.
An Intergovernmental Committee on Drugs was expected to meet yesterday to discuss outlawing Kronic and similar synthetic drugs.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
