Outdated approaches to problem drug supplies in Australia are feeding an entirely new market of synthetic and potentially deadly materials, medical experts say.
Two men, aged 33 and 41, have died in central Queensland and others are ill after a suspected batch of poisonous synthetic cannabis passed through the region.
Mackay health chiefs have warned of a recent increase in the number of hospital patients complaining of adverse impacts associated with the synthetics.
"These drugs pose a major risk to an individual's physical and mental health and the community," Mackay Hospital and Health Service boss Dr David Farlow said
Synthetic cannabis, commonly purchased over the internet, was outlawed under current legislation and could result in charges of possession, supply or trafficking, Detective Acting Inspector Sam Bliss said.
"The chemical compounds found in these drugs are dangerous and are not herbal or natural alternatives to `real' drugs," she said.
"They contain synthetic compounds which are toxic and extremely dangerous."
Deaths associated with such synthetic materials are well-documented in toxicological literature, Senior Australian National University Clinical Lecturer in Medicine Dr David Caldicott said.
The industrially-produced chemicals used in synthetic cannabinoids are sprayed onto plant material to give the impression they are natural.
"Nothing could be further from the truth," Dr Caldicott said.
"They have generally been designed by well-respected and well-intentioned neuro-chemists for the purposes of investigating the neuro-biology of cannabis in animals."
Most materials were never designed for consumption by humans, he said.
"We need wittier and wiser responses to the problem of harm from drugs, if these deaths are not to become a more frequent occurrence in a generation of young Australians."
The large variety of cannabinoids with largely unknown toxicity presented a problem for researchers scrambling to keep up, University of Sydney PhD student Richard Kevin said.
"Using a synthetic product is a lot like picking up a random pill off the ground," he said.
"You can't know exactly what you're getting, so you're taking a big risk."
Synthetic cannabinoids have been linked to serious health problems including acute kidney injury, panic attacks and seizures.
Share
