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5-HT2A
Registered: 01/30/10 
Posts: 1,794
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New Zealand - Parents alarmed by 'legal' high drugs
#14534299 - 05/30/11 03:11 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/5069901/Parents-alarmed-by-legal-high-drugs
Parents are spending tens of thousands of dollars to wean their children off drugs, including "legal cannabis" sold over the counter at corner dairies.
Users say while the products may be legal, they're an addictive gateway to other drugs such as methamphetamine.
Karl* is an in-patient at Capri Trust, a private rehabilitation clinic in east Auckland. His treatment will cost up to $20,000 and include five weeks as an in-patient, medical detox, three months intense follow-up care and a year of almost daily meetings. The 18-year-old said he mixed so-called legal drugs like Kronic with his illegal drug of choice, ecstasy, to make his "buzz" last longer.
Karl is adamant cannabinoids are addictive and he's seen friends as young as 14 swap senselessly between "legal" and illegal drugs.
"I've had younger friends that have started with Kronic, they didn't smoke marijuana or anything, and they've progressed into ecstasy and other drugs." Once out of rehab he said there's no way he would use the legal products to help him stay clean. "It's a mind-altering substance. And your brain gets an addiction – you get to the point where you need it to do stuff."
Fellow 23-year-old in-patient Fiona* is in rehab for the third time. Her drug habit started at 12 when she discovered marijuana. By 15 she'd progressed to readily available party pills and a legal cannabinoid called Mexican tripping weed. She said the cannabinoid was "horrible, it screws you up". It wasn't long before she was a self-described "P-nut".
If the legal drugs became socially acceptable then more kids would end up as "[drug] fiends" she said.
Clinic co-founder Tom Claunch calls the synthetic products a "gateway" drug and said it's a smooth transition from a synthetic joint to a P pipe.
"But the word is getting out now that even though it's legal, it's extremely destructive. It's almost like they don't know they're switching into one of the most destructive drugs anywhere – because it's just another smoke."
A case study presented earlier this month at the American Psychiatric Association meeting found synthetic cannabis can lead to psychosis lasting for days and, in some cases, months.
Researchers at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego followed 10 patients who experienced auditory and visual hallucinations, paranoid delusions, thoughts of suicide, insomnia and delayed reaction times after reportedly using synthetic cannabis.
The first legal high arrived in New Zealand more than 10 years ago. In 2008, forensic testing arranged by the Health Ministry found "Spice" and products like it contained an equivalent of a chemical compound called CP 47, 497. The substance was so similar to tetrahydrocannabinol – the active ingredient in cannabis – the products were classified as a Class C drug.
One commentator said the unintended consequence of the "Spice decision" was that more harmful products such as Kronic hit the market.
Last month in a open letter to the New Zealand Medical Journal, the National Poisons Centre said there has been an alarming increase in the availability and consumption of synthetic drugs. As a result, the centre had fielded more calls from doctors and ambulance officers reporting breathing problems, paranoia and recurring psychotic episodes. The centre said accidental overdosing could be more toxic than expected with marijuana and called for stringent regulation.
Auckland emergency department clinical director Dr Tim Parke said people turning up at A&E with adverse effects to "legal" drugs was new. "Before Christmas we weren't seeing this. Now we see about three or four every weekend." He said people, predominantly young adults, came in feeling "very significantly unwell".
"The commonest side effects we get, is a very rapid heart rate, often up to 150 beats per minute and they get intense paranoia. Quite a lot of them think they're going to die." In rare cases patients have to be given sedatives.
Parke said the potency of the products often took people by surprise. "I think they assume it would be rather mild – like a couple of pints of beer. What appears to be happening is that people who wouldn't otherwise use drugs are buying this stuff in dairies and assuming that it's completely safe.
"It's certainly our view that this stuff should not be sold over the counter."
New Zealand Drug Foundation chief executive Ross Bell said government was fighting a losing battle with our outdated drug laws.
"What we've learnt in New Zealand is that as soon as you ban one of these chemicals, the very next day the manufacturers will stick a slightly modified, new product on the market. Then the government spends four or five years to sort that one out – then the manufacturers have yet another product. We need to break that cycle."
Bell believes the onus should be on manufacturers to prove their product was safe before they release it to the public. It's an approach recommended by the Law Commission in a four-year review presented earlier this month.
"There's always going to be chemicals and until you get your drug laws fixed, the manufacturers will always stay two or three steps ahead of government." He said people assume the products are safe and certified because they're sold at the corner dairy.
Manufacturers' claims they are doing it for the good of the country, to wean people off illegal drugs, are "bullshit" he said. "They're putting this stuff on the market, they're not telling people what's in it, they're not releasing information to customers about what these products are, there's no health warning, they're sold by anyone. [They] have got away with this for too long, they know the loophole." Six years ago the drug law was amended and a "restricted substance" category was added – sometimes called Class D. Products in the category have age and marketing restrictions and carry health warnings.
However a legal fishhook means nothing can be added to the schedule – yet. Once that changes a handful of substances will be added, Bell said. "It's a free-for-all in the meantime."
The Auckland-based manufacturer of Kronic declined to comment but a posting on its website said it would welcome Kronic's inclusion in the restricted substances category because it would enforce an age limit, mandatory health warnings, advertising controls and "harm minimisation".
"The government has moved to ban the sale of Kronic and other similar products to those under the age of 18 – and we for one are very glad. Kronic is committed to providing adults with responsible ways to relax, kick-back and unwind in a safe and legal manner."
* Names have been changed
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Syntheticbreakfast

Registered: 09/19/10
Posts: 27
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 11 years, 7 months
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Re: New Zealand - Parents alarmed by 'legal' high drugs [Re: 5-HT2A]
#14534655 - 05/30/11 07:14 AM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Auckland emergency department clinical director Dr Tim Parke said people turning up at A&E with adverse effects to "legal" drugs was new. "Before Christmas we weren't seeing this. Now we see about three or four every weekend." He said people, predominantly young adults, came in feeling "very significantly unwell".
Must be good stocking-stuffers.
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Dutchie3k
Psychic Drifter



Registered: 12/16/08
Posts: 348
Loc: this hazy bubble, state o...
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Re: New Zealand - Parents alarmed by 'legal' high drugs [Re: Syntheticbreakfast]
#14534843 - 05/30/11 08:38 AM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Just another circuit of the money market you might know as Capitalism+Drug Prohibition
Quote:
One commentator said the unintended consequence of the "Spice decision" was that more harmful products such as Kronic hit the market.
Unlikely in this case, but often true when something is prohibited. And demonized, as deliberate misinformation is spread...
-------------------- "The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others - the living - are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later"
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mikehauncho


Registered: 06/17/09
Posts: 567
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Re: New Zealand - Parents alarmed by 'legal' high drugs *DELETED* [Re: Dutchie3k]
#14535155 - 05/30/11 10:23 AM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Post deleted by mikehaunchoReason for deletion: law enforcement
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theinsider1984
the_insider_1984
Registered: 05/31/11
Posts: 2
Loc: tantamount house, pall ma...
Last seen: 12 years, 7 months
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Re: New Zealand - Parents alarmed by 'legal' high drugs [Re: mikehauncho]
#14541918 - 05/31/11 06:00 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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perhaps these kids need more education into the effects, positive and negative of drug use. finding out for themselves and sneaking around in the dark with them is not the answer degenerate parents, and young adults coming into the world realising that their actions, even while young and ignorant, have consequences.
the earth has produced marihuana, we need not try to synthesize it.
-------------------- the most effective cages are those we cannot see.
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