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Lothar121

Police Warn On New 'Drug'
Jean White | Stuff.co.nz | 12/10/2005

A herbal substance designed to be smoked and marketed as a marijuana substitute has appeared on the North Shore, prompting police to warn it may put young people on the path to illegal drugs.

"Spice" is imported from England, costs $25 and has an R18 label. The package, which includes a small reusable steel pipe and a sealed pack of "product", is covered in drawings of marijuana leaves. It is being sold alongside party pills in North Shore dairies.

London Underground advertises the product on its website as a substitute for cannabis. The site says: "When you try it you will be amazed that it is legal (for now)." It is listed as having 14 herbal ingredients.

Browns Bay community constable River Lamb says police do not know how long Spice has been available.

"A concerned parent found it and brought it to my attention. It was bought at a North Shore dairy."

He says it appears to be legal but police aren't sure exactly what they are dealing with. He has sent a sample to the government body Environmental Scientific Research.

Mr Lamb says he is concerned the product might entice young people into the drug culture, with its picture of marijuana leaves on the cover and reference to the pipe that you can "reuse with your favourite brew".

"Spice is a `starter'. If you get into that, what next?" he says.

Mr Lamb is also concerned with the health warnings on the label, which include:

Do not exceed the maximum dosage of three pipes a day, wait at least 20 minutes between "portions", and do not use more than twice a week.

"But kids aren't going to stick to twice a week," Mr Lamb says.

The Spice label also warns not to drive or operate heavy machinery for at least eight hours "or until effects subside".

Mr Lamb says the company is just out there to make a buck by telling kids they can get high - and they believe it.

"But whether it has mind altering properties, I don't know," he says.
(LothNote: Stick it in your pipe and find out. )
Mr Lamb says he contacted the alcohol and drug helpline and the police drug squad but they were not aware of the product.

He says young people should not be fooled into taking something they're unsure of and parents should be vigilant because they might be stopping a future heroin or P addict.

Health ministry non-communic- able diseases group manager Cynthia Maling says Spice appears to be a new recreational drug on the market.

The ministry has not been able to locate a formal analysis of the content or effects of using it.

"Our advice is that if people are unsure what is in it, they should not take it," she says.

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TheNewGuy

It took this long for "herbal substitutes" to make it over there? I'm not concerned anyways, it won't be long until they find out those things don't do anything...

__________________
"Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power." ~P.J. O'Rourke

GreenBeing06

Interesting, I'd like to learn more about this substance. I bet it won't stay legal for long once the drug nazis have their way with things. Especially since it's reminiscent of pot, the drug they seem to love to hate most. Not to mention it's kind of hard to take the guy seriously when his name is River Lamb. Somehow, "Mr.Lamb" just doesn't seem to have that autoritative air.

king cola

This is such bullsh*t. They make a issue out of everything. I still go into stores and see candy cigarettes on the shelf, no one complains about it.

"He says young people should not be fooled into taking something they're unsure of and parents should be vigilant because they might be stopping a future heroin or P addict."

They jump from comparing this with marijuana to then saying, this product will cause people to use heroin

Don't take something we are unsure about he says. That's funny cause when a doctor prescribes a patient a new drug, they say, well if theres any side effects let us know, they probably say that because they don't know too much about what they are even giving the people! They treat us like gini pigs and that's alright. Atleast this spice crap has some kind of warning just telling the people to use it twice a week and they should obey it if they are going to use it. They talk about pot and comparing this stuff to it but theres no rules about using pot only twice a week and we are still alive and that's smoking the actual weed, some even smoking on a daily basis.

"The Spice label also warns not to drive or operate heavy machinery for at least eight hours "or until effects subside".

8 hrs? How is that a substitute for pot? I feel good enough to drive in about 1-3 hrs after smoking weed.

Anyone else notice that throughout the article, "Mr. Lamb says this", "Mr. Lamb says that", anyone else just feel like tellin this guy to shut the f*ck up?

troublemaker_42

My guess is that its nothing more than one the "herbal" substitutes that have been advertised in high Times and on websites for as long as i can remember. If it were actually any good, we'd already know all about it by now. However, since its likely worthless, its remained "obscure"