Synthetic highs and lows

Last week’s shocking news about seven recent deaths in Auckland attributed to synthetic cannabis came out of the blue for everyone, even those tasked with keeping an eye on crime and health. Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne has told RNZ he learned about the deaths only an hour before they were made public by police.

Since then, an eighth person has died and ambulance services say they are treating 20 people a day, yet the wider public is none the wiser about the drugs involved and how they relate to the short-lived attempt to control a market in psychoactive substances.

But all agree they are dangerous: some varieties are said to be 50 times more potent than natural cannabis. Wellington Hospital emergency medicine specialist Paul Quigley said that even a single smoke of synthetic is equivalent to up to 15 normal joints. Serious health problems include seizures and heart palpitations, much higher levels of addiction and psychosis.

The first thing is that synthetic cannabis is not cannabis. Emphasis should go on the word ‘‘synthetic’’. Plant matter is sprayed with chemicals. But what are they? Even police are unsure. Speculation has filled the vacuum and guesses range from fentanyl, a notorious opioid, to a powerful, cheap painkiller known as AMBFubinaca.

Some local versions may be more improvised. A youth worker told Stuff in 2016 that substances were made from ‘‘any chemicals they could get their hands on, including rat poison, nail polish remover, embalming fluid and horse tranquilliser’’.

Synthetic drugs have had a confusing history in New Zealand. There were scores of products, known then as legal highs, available in dairies before the Government applied a temporary ban in 2011 and resolved to tidy up the market. The Psychoactive Substances Act two years later was seen as worldleading legislation that created a regulated market if products could be proved safe.

But that market ended after less than a year, when animal testing was banned. Some have argued that these relatively less dangerous products suffered from a moral panic. The public resiled from media images of drug users lining up outside approved shops and pet owners marched against the testing of drugs on animals.

As Dunne and others predicted, the market has only been driven underground and online where the quality and source of drugs are much harder to determine. It could be argued that the eight deaths in Auckland are the unintended side effects of the panic that followed the original psychoactive substances regime. As Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell has explained, some level of government control is surely preferable to an out of control black market.

Dunne’s dilemma is that he is a Government minister at odds with the Government. When the system fails as badly as it has this month, the public looks to him for answers and solutions. But he is one vote against an overwhelming majority that does not want drug laws changed. As Dunne says, the majority can be summarised in two words: National and Labour.

The unfortunate flipside is that synthetic cannabis has killed eight people in a number of weeks, and put many more in hospital. Ordinary cannabis is less obviously harmful.

Synthetic cannabis is not cannabis.