Photo: GettyThe life-threatening reactions to synthetic cannabis are being blamed on some of the drugs being home-made, with toxic chemicals including weed killer and fly spray used in the recipe. She said there had been a "concerning" rise in synthetic cannabis use. Murray said the Avondale police had some good results with synthetic cannabis busts in April and June, leading to 12 arrests. Wellington emergency medicine specialist Dr Paul Quigley said Hutt Valley Hospital was regularly having to treat users of synthetic cannabis. "Because synthetic cannabis is so much more potent than natural cannabis we were also seeing the effects related to substance abuse and addiction developing rapidly," Quigley said.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 25, 2017 05:03 UTC