The National Poisons Centre's Dunedin-based call centre recorded its highest number of calls concerning synthetic cannabis last month.
In July, 39 synthetic cannabis related calls were lodged at the centre, beating the previous high of 24 calls received in May.
Toxicologist Dr Leo Schep said the increase could partly be explained by new laws which saw synthetic cannabis products now carrying the centre's 0800 number.
However, he was able to confirm that 22 of those calls related to symptoms of poison exposure. These included agitation, psychosis and one instance of acute kidney injury and a seizure.
''A number of calls have also been linked with withdrawal syndrome and issues associated with addiction,'' he said.
It was hoped that calls to the poisons centre would start showing a downward trend now the products were no longer available from dairies, he said.
