Synthetic cannabis rules 'welcome'

Kronic is sold in packets for $40 and a $20 cigarette. Photo / APN

A major manufacturer of synthetic cannabis has welcomed regulation of the products and is confident they can be proven safe and sold long-term.

Auckland-based Enjoi Products has manufactured the Illusion and Amsterdam Cafe brands of synthetic cannabis since 2005.

The company's managing director, Zaid Musa, said he backed making synthetic cannabis a restricted substance as a way to clean up the industry.

"There's a lot of other manufacturers in the industry, who have just learned how to make [synthetic cannabis].

"They don't care how they make it, as long as they make it strong. And they sell it too cheaply as well, so kids can get their hands on it."

On Friday, Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne announced that moves to limit the sale and advertisement of R18 synthetic cannabis products would be accelerated.

The announcement came a day after Mr Dunne was informed by the Herald that Auckland City Hospital's emergency doctors often treat one or two synthetic cannabis users a day.

Most of those patients are aged between 16 and 21.

Before the next election the Government will also consider a Law Commission recommendation to make firms get permission before selling synthetic drugs.

The would-be seller would have to prove the drugs were safe.

Such products can now be sold unless they are proven harmful.

The Government has signalled the recommendation could provide a long-term solution to regulating the drugs.

Mr Musa said the changes would mean only larger and more established companies would be able to afford tests to prove their products' safety.

"But we're going to do it the right way. And we've been waiting for laws like this to come into place."

He was confident Illusion and Amsterdam Cafe could be proven safe.

Very little is known about the health effects of synthetic cannabis, and Institute of Environmental Science and Research scientist Keith Bedford has said the lack of knowledge was appalling.

However, the report released by the Law Commission labelled total prohibition a last resort.

"There is certainly reason to believe that appropriately regulating these substances may be more effective at minimising drug-related harm than prohibiting them altogether."

It would be unfortunate if the opportunity to test that theory was wasted, the commission said.

Keith Marshall, the distributor of Illusion and Amsterdam Cafe, said while regulation was welcome, the negative publicity that spurred it was not.

The managing director of the more well-known Kronic brand, Matthew Wielenga, has boasted of receiving millions of dollars of free marketing from the media.

But Mr Marshall said although their sales had grown with the publicity, he felt the industry was nearing tipping point.

"We had the same problem with BZP. The extra push made by a lot of manufacturers was almost a suicidal lemming-like thing that caused the legislation to arrive, possibly faster.

"We almost feel like Kronic is killing the goose that lays the golden egg. It's going all-out to antagonise the very hand that's feeding it."

Western Australia's Health Minister, Kim Hames, announced last Monday that the state would ban synthetic cannabinoids such as Kronic.

Mr Dunne told the Herald he understands the state's mining industry pushed for the ban because workers were using Kronic, which cannot be identified by normal drug tests.

Mr Marshall said Kronic had been advertised in Western Australia as a way to avoid being caught by workplace drug testing. "Kronic has gone out of its way to be controversial."