Australia's prohibition approach to cannabis is leading to deaths and harm to people turning to the much more dangerous synthetic version, warns an expert.
"Most doctors that I know hanker after the days in which we might have to treat somebody who is just smoking weed," Dr David Caldicott told AAP.
The emergency consultant and senior clinical lecturer at the ANU's college of medicine was speaking after the death of a 17-year-old boy and hospitalisation of two men in NSW.
Police were told the trio had consumed a synthetic form of cannabis known as "Kronic".
"I think this is a tragic example of deja vue," Dr Caldicott said.
"We need to ask ourselves what is wrong with our current approach that allows these tragedies to continue to occur.
"I don't know a practising emergency physician who would not have treated (such a case) in the last year."
While synthetic cannabis is marketed as a herbal or natural alternative to cannabis, "it's anything but", being prepared in industrial labs, frequently in southwest China.
"There are absolutely hundreds of these products on the market and every time one is banned another five or 10 emerge" using different chemicals.
This presents a challenge to the medical profession in knowing what they are dealing with.
"This is a problem of our own creation," he said.
"The prohibition approach towards cannabis, which can be identified by sniffer dogs and identified in your urine, has resulted in the emergence of a market of far more dangerous compounds."
They can't be identified by dogs or in your urine, can be bought over the internet and delivered through the post as they are not detected by normal techniques, he said.
"Kronic" was a brand marketed several years ago, but Dr Caldicott said he doubted whether the recent cases involved the same product.
"As part of our monitoring program we have clearly seen the same brands with very different chemicals inside, so the packaging and the street name is largely irrelevant as to what you are receiving."
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