Synthetic drugs smuggled in for huge profits: ex-dealer

Importing synthetic drugs into New Zealand has never been easier and smugglers can make a 2000 per cent profit, according to a former importer.

An anonymous source has warned the Drug and Alcohol Practitioners Association of Aotearoa New Zealand (Dapaanz) that a recent spate of deaths linked to synthetic drugs is the tip of the iceberg.

Executive director Sue Paton said the organisation had received credible intelligence indicating that potent synthetic drugs, such as AMBFubinaca, were being sourced in bulk online to sell for enormous profits.

“Internet technologies are driving the rapid globalisation of a psychoactive substance black market with profits of up to 2000 per cent.”

The source told Dapaanz that the wholesale price of one gram of AMBFubinaca could be as low as US$1. This compound could then be used to make four ounces of synthetic product with a street value of up to $2000.

The source told Nathan Frost, special projects adviser for the NZ Society on Alcohol and Drug Dependence, that importers were bringing the product in using a reflective material and fake vaping products.

“It’s sent in Mylar — a material used to bounce back light to reflect x-rays. If it’s packaged right and in a box with something else in the side of the box, you won’t see it because the Mylar will deflect the x-ray,” he said.

“Now that people vape, everyone is importing vape juice and people get the research chemical powders broken down into liquid form, either in solvents or water, and then baked back off once it arrives at its destination.

“Basically any substance that can be concealed as a powder or lique- fied, can be easily smuggled into New Zealand,” he said.

According to the source, elements of the industry had reverted to online operations outside of New Zealand because the psychoactive industry was unable to prove synthetic compounds were safe without animal testing, and thus legal for sale.

“Research chemical companies based in either China or the EU are providing product worldwide for the synthetic black market utilising either the internet or crypto-market transactions through the dark web,” he said.

“These companies employ effective concealment methods of either powders or liquids and guarantee importers refund of money in the event of border seizures.”

Paton said it was not just the compounds linked to synthetic cannabis that the public should be worried about.

According to the source, synthetics that mimicked the effects of opiate, psychedelic and stimulant drugs had been developed and many of these substances had never been subjected to any form of testing.

“Each synthetic cannabinoid has a different hit to it; from mild relaxation to extreme hallucinations to a couch sloth feeling.

“It’s like mixing heroin with crack cocaine and methamphetamine all in one and smoking that. You’re going to go up, you’re going to go down, you’re going to go sideways. You’re going to get completely twisted.”

The source said the drugs had an extremely fine overdose threshold and shoddy application methods were behind the recent deaths.

“I think the deaths have been caused by backyard chemists mixing ABM-Fubinaca or MMB-Chminaca at a high dose before putting it in a spray bottle and randomly spraying it on the plant material unevenly,” he said.

“Because of the strength of the compounds, uneven distribution can mean the difference between a dose that gets you high and a dose that kills you.”

Paton said these drugs were being “aggressively marketed” because of their strength, cheapness and enormous profits for dealers.

She believed any strategies to reduce drug-related harm, such as the methamphetamine plan that was currently being revised, needed to incorporate other harmful products that were being imported with ease.

“The ease with which synthetic drugs can be imported . . . means a prohibitionist approach to control is unlikely to have any lasting impact,” Paton said. “When one substance is given prominence and considered in isolation, it just makes room for other substances — some even more harmful, to fly under the radar.”