A large quantity - 129 bags -of a banned synthetic cannabis product called Kryptonite was found by police being sold in a Central Otago shop yesterday.
Sergeant Matthew Alley, of Alexandra, said the bags of Red and Green Kryptonite, each containing 2.5g of the product, were surrendered to Constable Toni Velenski, who had been carrying out a random check on the shop to ensure it was complying with recent law changes regarding psychoactive substances.
Several synthetic cannabis products including Kryptonite, Kronic and K2 have recently been banned. Sgt Alley said the retailer, whom he declined to name, would not face any charges.
''He assisted us in removing the products from sale. It was a good result to have these substances off the street as the Ministry of Health have deemed them to cause more than a low risk of harm to individuals who use it.''
Each of the bags of Kryptonite was being sold for $30, which meant the total retail value of the product surrendered was $3870. The ingredient listed on the labels is ''damiana herb'' .
Sgt Alley said ongoing random checks would continue, as the status of products changed.
Members of the public were urged to contact police with any information about the illegal sale of any synthetic cannabis products, he said. Associate Minister of Health Todd McClay yesterday welcomed the ban on Kronic, K2 and Kryptonite.
He said the products had caused considerable concern, had been associated with significant harm, and were now ''off the shelves''. Twenty-eight other products were granted a temporary licence and were being sold through about 110 licensed retailers.
Six months ago, ''hundreds of products'' were available to buy from about 3000-4000 retailers, Mr McClay said.
''To put it bluntly, it was the Wild West and New Zealand, like other jurisdictions around the world, was struggling with getting on top of this problem.''
All products with temporary licences would be referred to Environmental Science and Research for testing, he said.
