Death linked to synthetics
Three friends entered a bedroom and locked the door ‘‘so nobody could see the state of us when we’re high’’.
Hours later, one of them was dead.
The calm of the high inside the Feilding house had been replaced by a frantic scramble to save the life of Bradley James Wahanui, 21. But all efforts proved futile.
It is one of three deaths linked to synthetic cannabis in the past week.
Coroner Peter Ryan said in his report that Wahanui’s death, after smoking the drug on September 7 last year, was likely due to synthetic cannabinoid toxicity.
Wahanui had sent texts to two friends, named Jarrod and Mission, to come around and smoke with him.
When they arrived they all went to his room, where Wahanui locked the door ‘‘so nobody could see the state of us when we were high’’, Mission said.
Wahanui and Jarrod had a hit and both passed out quickly. Mission soon followed. He and Jarrod said the drugs were much stronger than normal.
A family member who Wahanui lived with was alerted to noises outside his bedroom and found Mission ‘‘completely out of it’’ in the hallway.
He looked into the room and found the other two lying inside. He felt Wahanui and said he was warm and alive.
Wahanui’s brother was called and he arrived just before Misson regained consciousness.
Jarrod woke 15 minutes later, but Wahanui did not. Mission put him in the recovery position and noticed vomit around his mouth. Wahanui started to vomit again, and then his face turned blue. Attempts were
Wahanui started to vomit again, and then his face turned blue.
made to open his mouth and clear his airway and find his pulse. Wahanui’s brother started performing CPR and an ambulance was called.
But no-one was able to revive him.
Manchester Social Services alcohol and drug support worker Robyn Duncan said following Wahanui’s death, the use of synthetic cannabis in Feilding seemed to drop, with requests for help from users drying up.
‘‘I’m not saying it’s completely gone but [it’s] certainly not like it was.’’
Duncan said Wahanui’s family were doing the best they could to come to terms with his death.
‘‘I don’t think you ever get over the death of a child but you cope the best you can.’’
Ryan said traces of THC and the synthetic cannabinoid 5F-ADB were found in a bottle, used as a bong, and 5F-ADB acid was in Wahanui’s blood.
It is one of the two types of synthetic cannabinoid linked to a number of deaths in New Zealand.
As an inquiry was under way by another coroner into synthetic cannabis.
It was likely to produce recommendations based on a wider range of circumstances, Ryan made no recommendations of his own.
A Coronial Services spokesperson said there had been 45 to 50 cases nationally, since June 1, 2017, which provisionally appear to be attributable to synthetic cannabis toxicity.
The deaths of Taupo¯ man Isaiah Terry Mclaughlin and Shannon James Thomas Coleman-fallen, 29, have also been linked to synthetic cannabis use in the past week.