Calls for action as teenager dies as synthetic cannabis crisis worsens
THEY’RE sold under brand names like “Blue Moon Tea” and “Black Mojo” and promoted as being the easy way to get a natural and legal high.
But drug experts have warned decisive action is needed to tackle synthetic cannabis following the tragic death of a teenager at the weekend after he smoked a joint that was likely laden with untested and dangerous chemicals.
There are even calls to legalise cannabis to prevent people turning to the potentially lethal alternatives.
Dean Shield died a lonely death on Saturday night with his body found lying next to a drain off a backstreet in the Maitland suburb of Rutherford in the NSW Hunter Valley.
The 17-year-old, who was described as a “great kid who was always smiling”, is thought to have taken synthetic cannabis earlier in the day. A further two Maitland men, both 22, were also rushed to hospital after taking the same substance marketed as Chronic.
The death prompted NSW Police to issue a stark warning to people considering experimenting with illegal synthetic drugs: “It’s a gamble with your life that’s just not worth taking,” police said in a statement.
Shield’s death is not isolated. Last month, David Piccinato was extradited to Queensland to face charges that he produced and possessed synthetic marijuana sold out of his chain of sex shops, reportedThe Courier-Mail.
Police allege the synthetic marijuana, called Full Moon and Godfather, was packaged as teas and consumers were led to believe the products were “legal, natural and safe, but giving the same high as cannabis”. However, two men died from adverse reactions after allegedly smoking the cannabis copycats and police claim the drug contained a dangerous chemical called AB-CHMINACA, which has been linked to seizures and psychotic episodes.
ONLY TWO DRAGS EACH
JUST last week, police in Victoria swooped on a factory in the city’s north-east netting themselves an alleged $2 million haul of potentially deadly synthetic drugs. Synthetic cannabis was also linked to the death of Melbourne man Daniel George who died three days short of his daughter’s first birthday in late 2014. His sister said Mr George and a friend took the drug after purchasing it from a Frankston sex shop.
“They only had two drags each and pretty much instantly my brother’s actions changed,” Mrs Wilson told the Mordialloc-Chelsea Leader.
“He felt like he was burning from the inside and was just trying to drink a lot of water, and ended up jumping in and out of a pool … They called an ambulance, and when they arrived, they tried to revive him.”
While in December, three men from Sydney’s northern beaches were hospitalised, including one who was found convulsing on the street, following smoking synthetic cannabis.
NOTHING NATURAL
THE cannabis substitutes often bear a striking resemblance to the real thing, enhancing assumptions of it as a harmless alternative to marijuana. The reality could not be further from the truth.
“Even though it’s prepared with plant material it’s entirely synthetic and there’s nothing natural about it at all,” said Andrew Leibie, a medical scientist at Safework laboratories which conducts workplace drug tests. “We haven’t tested these drugs on rats, they are compounds previously unknown to science, so really we’re experimenting them on people.
“You can’t die from a cannabis overdose. You can’t take a toxic amount and at worst you’ll get so stoned you can’t get off the beanbag. But these drugs are that much more potent, the amount required to reach a lethal dose could be quite small.
“At the extreme [the synthetic drugs] produce cardiac symptoms, elevate blood pressure, produce extreme changes in temperature and that tends to be the ones that are more dangerous,” said Mr Leibie.
Knowing which drugs could kill was often impossible.
While drug testing is common in some industries — including mining which is a major employer in the Hunter where Shield lived — testing for synthetic drugs was less common.
“In Western Australia, it was the idea of not being detected in a standard urine test on a mine site that caused a huge demand [for synthetic cannabis] so most of the mining companies over there now include synthetic drugs and that took the demand away,” he said.
“But it’s also the naivety of users who sometimes believe it’s legal, safe and herbal. It’s not, it’s inherently dangerous yet a teenager can get onto his computer, send an email and get his stuff delivered in the post in small quantities at a relatively low price and that makes enforcement incredibly difficult.”
PROHIBITION
WHILE synthetic drugs are illegal in most states, legislation differs and sellers try to get around the rules but slightly change to the chemical ingredients.
Secretary of the Australian HEMP Party, Andrew Kavasilas, told news.com.au continuing to make the possession of cannabis a criminal offence was exacerbating the problem of chemical alternatives including synthetic marijuana and hydroponic plants.
“Just as under alcohol prohibition you couldn’t get a low alcohol beer but you could get ethanol or moonshine, it’s the same with cannabis where hydroponic occupies 90 per cent of the market and now there’s synthetic versions as well.”
Mr Kavasilas said the government should work to regulate and legalise an industry that, by some accounts, is worth $500m a year in Australia. He didn’t hold out much hope though.
“The politicians couldn’t do less. They’ve washed their hands of the issues and when people die they say they’ll make it more illegal.
$200M SAVING
WHILE the HEMP Party might not have a strong voice in parliament, some MPs have called for an easing of the rules around cannabis including Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm, who in 2014 said it should be up to individuals to decide whether or not to take the drug. In a submission last October to the parliamentary budget office, Leyonhjelm estimated Australia’s law enforcement agencies would save $200 million by no longer having to deal with cannabis while consumption of the now legal product would increase to almost 400 tonnes by 2019.
While the Federal Government has flagged plans to decriminalise cannabis, this is only for medical use.
Clinical director of Melbourne alcohol and drug centre Turning Point, Matthew Frei, said in November that more people were reaching out for help overcoming a synthetic cannabis addiction.
“We’re certainly seeing a significant number of people whose principal drug of concern is synthetic cannabis and that’s a change from five years ago when it was virtually unheard of,” Dr Frei said. He made the comments following an investigation by the Mordialloc Chelsea Leader, which found synthetic drugs were being sold in Melbourne shops that included the toxic and illegal chemical UR-144. It can produce heart attack like symptoms and had been linked to hospital admissions and deaths.
Mr Leibie says the problem with Chronic, and other synthetic concoctions like flakka, is only going to get worse with the drugs already having taken hold in Europe and the USA.
“I agree with the [government’s] focus on ice as it is a dangerous and prominent drug but it’s not the only drug out there and we don’t want to spend 99.9 per cent of effort on ice and ignore everything else.”
Medical scientist Andrew Leibie says synthetic drugs are anything but natural and could be fatal.
BANNED
THE Chief Addiction Medicine Specialist at NSW Health, Associate Professor Adrian Dunlop, said in eight synthetic cannabinoids were banned from sale in 2013 but patients were still presenting to emergency departments suffering from their effects.
He said NSW Health delivered a “wide and extensive range of support services for people who use drugs, including synthetic cannabinoids” but denied not enough was being done.
“A number of core elements of the drug treatment spectrum are designed to apply across all drug types, including synthetic cannabinoids. These include assessment services, outpatient counselling services, withdrawal services residential rehabilitation services and hospital consultation liaison services.”
Dr Dunlop pointed to seven cannabis clinics available across NSW which were also open for people using synthetic drugs.
News.com.au approached the NSW Attorney General Gabrielle Upton for the government’s response to calls to fully decriminalise cannabis. The response, from a spokeswoman was simple.
“The government will not be changing the laws relating to recreational drug use.”
Meanwhile, in the Hunter Valley, a family mourns a brother and a son who went out for a joint on Saturday evening and never came home.
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/he...s/news-story/51fd93a2747add2e0a54518d7c83ca27
