The minister behind the disappearance of synthetic cannabis from Kiwi shop shelves says he's not surprised by new research showing the ban halved the number of users seeking medical treatment.
But Peter Dunne, who drove 2013's Psychoactive Substances Act through Parliament, is concerned the study's findings may be clouded by smokers lying about their cannabis use, claiming to be under the influence of synthetic products that were then legal, like Kronic.
The Psychoactive Substances Act dramatically reduced the number of 'legal highs' on shop shelves by requiring manufacturers to prove their product was safe to use before they could sell it. It also cut the number of outlets able to sell the products, from thousands to about 100.
In 2014, a Bill passed under urgency banned the remaining products the 2013 Act failed to catch.
But despite its limitations, the 2013 Act had a huge impact on mental health – at least in Dunedin, where the study was carried out.
Researchers at the University of Otago looked at six months of synthetic cannabis-related admissions at Dunedin's Emergency Psychiatric Service – three months before the Psychoactive Substances Act came into force, and three months after. Before the Act, there were 50 assessments done of 42 different users of legal highs; afterwards, there were only 26 assessments done of 20 patients.
"The results don't surprise me at all," says Mr Dunne. "The results are consistent with all of the information I've been receiving over the last 12 months or so. I'm not at all surprised by it."
If Dunedin's experience was typical for wider New Zealand, the study says the cost savings in just those three months would amount to around $3.1 million.
The researchers say the drop in admissions is unlikely to be down to the removal of the most harmful drugs from shop shelves, because patients seeking help before and after the Act had identical symptoms.
Instead, the evidence points to the lack of availability resulting in reduced use.
"[This] fits with a body of literature showing a relationship between substance availability and frequency of substance-related harms, as a function of increased or decreased consumption," the study notes.
"For example, alcohol-related harms are associated with density of alcohol outlets, and frequency of harms can be altered by altering their density. A similar association has been seen with density of tobacco outlets and rates of smoking in adolescents.
"The present study appears to show the same relationship for synthetic cannabinoids."
Mr Dunne says he's heard anecdotally from doctors and emergency room staff that many patients coming in claiming to be under the influence of synthetic cannabis were probably experiencing ill-effects of smoking regular cannabis, but didn't want to admit it.
"They suspect a lot of the reported explosion in numbers was really people using the cover of legal products to get treatment for addictions that have occurred, if you like, illegally.
"Now that the law's been changed, it's probably swung around the other way – people aren't reporting because they don't have a legal excuse."
Mr Dunne is happy with how the present law is working, but accepts there is a black market for the products. He says it's inevitable however that synthetic drugs will one day return to shop shelves – but it's difficult to predict when, because of the last-minute addition of a clause that bans products that have been tested on animals.
"The ban on animal testing has removed quite a significant chunk of the viability of a testing programme," says Mr Dunne.
"My view is that since there's a move to eliminate animal testing not just in this area, but right across the area of pharmaceuticals and other products, that inevitably alternatives to those tests will be developed which will satisfy, in this instance, the provisions of the Psychoactive Substances Act.
"But it's just a matter of time as to when that happens, and when that occurs I expect there will be manufacturers seeking to obtain licenses for products in New Zealand."
The study is published today in the New Zealand Medical Journal.
3 News
source: newshub archive
