Greens see drug crisis first-hand
Green MP Julie Anne Genter witnessed first-hand the horrifying effects of the synthetic cannabis crisis that has claimed seven lives in the past month.
She saw a homeless person in central Auckland a week ago rolling on to a busy road while having seizures.
She and several other Green Party members, including coleader James Shaw, had just finished dinner after the party’s conference.
They were walking along Customs St when they came across a man collapsed on the footpath having a seizure outside a shop.
The shopkeeper was halfkeeping an eye on him, the MP told the Herald, and he was already in the recovery position. One of her group called an ambulance.
“The shopkeeper and we were gently trying to revive the guy and he just rolled into the street and started spasming around.
“He didn’t know what was going on and would just collapse again and rolled further and further on to the road into Customs St.”
The group stood around him to protect him from traffic.
After about five minutes, he started walking down the street and the group followed. St John Ambulance arrived and took over from them.
The shopkeeper had said he usually used P but that he was on synthetic cannabis. He’d had mental health issues as well as addiction. She guessed he would be in his 30s or 40s.
She said the crisis needed urgent government action.
“Homeless people are particularly vulnerable because they are looking for anything that will help them sleep and get through these very cold difficult nights,” Genter said.
“It makes it harder to seek help when we treat drug use as a criminal issue rather than a health issue.”
The police needed addiction and health specialists to work with them to curb the ongoing epidemic.
“I think if cannabis were legal we would have less of a problem with these dangerous alternatives.”
Prime Minister Bill English said anyone buying synthetic cannabis products needed to be aware they were potentially lethal.
“We’re not sure there are seven deaths — there could be more — so anyone in that part of the community that is using these products needs to be really careful.
“The products they are handing out to others could be lethal because no one knows what’s in them.”