‘Zombie’ drug claims 70 lives
Synthetic cannabinoids – described as the ‘‘drug of choice for the poor’’ – are believed to have killed more than 70 New Zealanders in the past two years.
Chief Coroner Judge Deborah Marshall has today confirmed 24 deaths linked to the drugs since June 2017, and provisionally attributed another 50 cases to ‘‘synthetic cannabis toxicity’’.
She said there were also deaths where synthetic cannabis contributed to the death, but was not ultimately the cause.
There are now calls for better social services, a review of drug laws, and a warning about the dangers of a drug implicated in a ‘‘zombie-like’’ mass intoxication.
Christchurch Hospital emergency medicine specialist Paul Gee said he continued to see patients affected by ‘‘synnies’’. Users were often the ‘‘very deprived and vulnerable’’, he said.
The drug is packaged and sold as a form of ‘‘synthetic cannabis’’, but there is no cannabis in the product.
Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell told The Press last year that ‘‘people with money can afford better drugs’’.
To prevent future deaths, Wellington-based emergency medical specialist and clinical toxicologist Dr Paul Quigley has suggested an ‘‘all-encompassing approach’’ to reduce demand, supply and easy access to treatment for those seeking assistance. However, he cautioned any recommendations on increasing enforcement could create a barrier to those seeking medical attention, even in cases of emergency.
‘‘The numbers of people presenting seems to vary in line with supply or price. One month last
year we assessed and treated more than 30 patients. Thankfully, 2019 has been quieter.’’
Addiction specialists say the introduction of workplace drugtesting has driven users from cannabis to synthetic substances.
‘‘Males will use it because it can’t be identified in a drug test – that’s a biggie for people,’’ said Brian Johnson, a Christchurchbased youth and adult AOD case manager.
The first synthetic drugrelated deaths in New Zealand were among men sleeping rough. Men like Jason Watene, 47, who died in a hallway of a Christchurch house last June.
Affectionately known as ‘‘Gummie’’ among the city’s street wha¯nau, he died from a heart attack thought to be the result of synnies use. Watene’s case is still active before the coroner.
The coroner’s release of the statistics was timed with a finding on a death of Joseph Rakete, 47, who with his partner, Tangi Putara, was begging on Queen St in central Auckland one Thursday evening in August 2017.
A stranger arrived, lit up some synthetic cannabis and smoked it out of a can, sharing
the drugs with Putara and Rakete. A forensic pathologist believed Rakete’s death was due to a toxic mix of meth, alcohol, cannabis and synthetic cannabis.
It is a scenario Simon Rouch, supervisor of the Christchurch City Mission’s detox centre, Thorpe House, has seen far too often.
Synthetic drug use caused anxiety, panic attacks, psychosis, self-injury, suicidal risk, cognitive and memory impairment, vomiting, kidney injury, dependence, tolerance and withdrawal, Rouch said.