‘Syn City’ drugs claim first victim
Authorities are investigating Canterbury’s first possible synthetic drug related death.
A Coronial Services spokeswoman this week confirmed three deaths were potentially linked to synthetic drugs this month.
It is understood two of the deaths were in Auckland and one in Canterbury.
There had been about 30 deaths nationwide provisionally linked to synthetic drugs since June 1,
2017, the spokeswoman said.
The product has been referred to as ‘‘synthetic cannabis’’ but a renewed warning to stay away from the substance last year prompted police and health authorities to widen the term to synthetic drugs.
Ten deaths last July were linked to the hazardous drugs in Auckland alone, triggering a number of substance seizures by police, as well as a public warning over the dangers.
Chief coroner Judge Deborah Marshall urged Kiwis to steer clear of the extremely dangerous substances.
‘‘Each case is a tragedy for the family and friends of those left behind,’’ she said. ‘‘While many deaths have occurred in Auckland, a number of cases in other parts of New Zealand have also been reported to Coronial Services. Using any illicit drug carries risks and in the case of synthetic drugs they are known to cause potentially fatal seizures.’’
The prevalence of synthetic drugs in Christchurch has earned it the name ‘‘Syn City’’ among people in the underworld.
Massey University’s New Zealand Arrestee Drug Use Monitoring 2016 report, released last year, found the use and availability of the drugs in the city was ‘‘noticeably higher … suggesting a more entrenched market’’ than elsewhere in the country. Christchurch Hospital emergency medicine specialist Dr Paul Gee said people who were occasional or regular users of synthetic cannabinoids were still presenting to the emergency department.
The university report showed the number of arrestees who reported using the drugs in the city fell from 53 per cent in 2013 to 26 per cent in 2016.
Nationally this figure fell from 47 per cent to 20 per cent in the same period. However, 47 per cent of respondents said they felt dependent on the drugs – up from 24 per cent – while the average number of days they used them in the past 12 months had increased from 74 to 157.
A spokesman from New Brighton drug addiction service Rodger Wright Centre said ‘‘the horror stories’’ were ‘‘coming out’’ about synthetics.
‘‘There are finally some statistics now that they (synthetics) have been around long enough and people have watched their friends turn into assholes [because of the drugs]. It does seem to have some quite severe psychological effects.’’
Synthetic cannabis was banned in New Zealand in 2014.