Active ingredients in the synthetic cannabis products Tai High and Spice were banned yesterday, but new versions are likely to appear on shelves soon, as manufacturers play a cat-and-mouse game with the authorities, Dunedin-based toxicologist Dr Leo Schep says.
"I suspect they are already processing, or have the next product ready to go," Dr Schep said.
Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne, who banned three more synthetic cannabinoid substances yesterday, last month said banning the ingredients in synthetic cannabis products rather than the products themselves was proving very effective and had "virtually completely nailed the synthetic cannabis industry".
Yet on Thursday, the Otago Daily Times had no problem buying synthetic cannabis products Kronic skunk and Tai High from five dairies in Dunedin, and understands they are available at several more stores in the city.
Dr Schep, who works at the National Poisons Centre, said he was not surprised.
Manufacturers were taken by surprise when synthetic cannabinoid substances were first banned, but now they were using some of the millions of variations of those substances to make smaller batches of modified versions of products. They would sell those until the psychoactive substances therein were banned, by which stage they would already be working on a newer version, he said.
Synthetic cannabis would be on the market until legislation was introduced putting the onus on manufacturers to prove product safety, he said.
Until that time, people should consider all "legal high" products to be toxic, Dr Schep said.
The fact three of the dairies told the ODT they ran out of the product Kronic skunk last week, was an example of a manufacturer likely producing only a small amount or being aware authorities were on to the product, Dr Schep said.
It is unclear whether Kronic skunk is being tested by ESR, although a Ministry of Health spokesman said police were having a product tested.
In total, 23 substances have been temporarily banned since temporary class drug orders were introduced in August last year. The year-long bans have affected the production of about 53 different synthetic cannabis products.
Since the bans were introduced calls about synthetic cannabis to the National Poisons Centre had dropped off significantly, Dr Schep said.
However, a few months ago, when new products appeared to have come on the market, there had been an increase in calls.
The approach of banning ingredients as newer modified products came to the attention of authorities, Dr Schep said, could not "nail" the problem, but under current legislation it remained the best way of dealing with the issue until new legislation came in.
"It has achieved what it set out to achieve. It put the brakes on it. Once the new legislation [placing the onus on manufacturers to prove their product is safe] comes in, it will just stop."
Mr Dunne said the appearance of modified synthetic cannabis products had been expected and the bans were only ever meant to be a temporary measure to allow authorities some control over the safety of products in the meantime.
He did not believe waiting until a complaint was received - they mostly came from police, public health officials and customs - was the most effective way of managing the issue, but the present legislation required the ban notices to be reactive to a substance being identified.
Asked if there should be a more proactive system, a spokesman for the minister said health, police and customs could not be everywhere all of the time.
Mr Dunne said the new legislation was being drafted and was scheduled for introduction later this year.
How long it would take before it came into effect would be governed by the usual parliamentary process, he said.
