An addict’s redemption

the times patients fail to mention having taken the drug before getting admitted to hospital – or its indirect impact on existing medical conditions. ‘‘We see synthetic cannabinoids here every day now, just about,’’ he said.

Long-time synthetics smoker Andrew Thompson, 48, was admitted to hospital with a ruptured stomach ulcer in August, after he almost bled to death under a West Auckland bridge.

Thompson spent more than a month in hospital and now has a jagged scar running from his sternum to groin, where doctors cut him open to operate.

Homeless at the time of his hospitalisation, he said addiction was at least partly responsible for the state of his health. Thompson said he was off the drug now, but had smoked ‘‘bags and bags’’ of synthetics virtually every day since it entered the market.

He said he wouldn’t have known he had stomach ulcers if he hadn’t been forced into an ambulance while ‘‘pretty much unconscious after bleeding out’’.

Gresham said that whether or not synthetic cannabinoids directly contributed to Thompson’s ulcers rupturing, the lifestyle of an addict did exacerbate ‘‘a lot of chronic medical conditions’’.

‘‘If you have ulcers, like many thousands of Kiwis do, and you take medicine for that – you do fine. But for addicts, everything else kind of goes unchecked,’’ he said.

‘‘If you have a serious addiction to synthetic cannabinoids, when you wake up in the morning your main goal is to get drugs. It’s not to brush your teeth, it’s not to take your medicine. It’s not to go to work, to earn some money, so you can go visit your GP. Your whole life is focused around getting the next bag.’’

St John’s Auckland territory manager Simon Barnett said ambulance officers responded to ‘‘a large number of patients exhibiting symptoms secondary to synthetic drugs across New Zealand’’.

He said most callouts came from members of the public who had seen users collapse or have a seizure after smoking the drug – often in groups.

Officers ‘‘regularly’’ responded to a single patient multiple times a day, he said. ‘‘Our frontline staff have at times been subjected to abusive, threatening behaviour from these patients.’’

DAVID WHITE/STUFF Andrew Thompson, left, has a long abdominal scar to remind him of his life on synthetic cannabinoids – a scourge that Dr Chip Gresham says he now sees at his hospital almost daily .