POLICE LOOK INTO 'KRONIC'

Southland police have sought top-level advice about a cannabis
substitute that is being sold in Invercargill shops and getting city
schoolchildren stoned.

Southland police area commander Inspector Barry Taylor, who this week
expressed concern about the product called Kronic, said yesterday he
had referred the matter to police national headquarters in Wellington.

"We are taking some advice from them in respect of what the substance
is and what the legalities are surrounding the substance, and if there
are regulations around the sale of it."

Police national headquarters would consult with the Health Ministry
about the Kronic product, he said.

Two Invercargill parents this week spoke out about the Kronic
pre-rolled joints, which are on sale in numerous Invercargill shops.

The parents expressed dismay at how easily their children had got hold
of the joints, with one saying her son arrived home showing "all the
signs of being stoned out of his brain" after smoking Kronic.
Southland Times staff who smoked a pre-rolled Kronic joint this week
reported effects ranging from getting a buzz to having tingling
sensations in their lower legs to experiencing mood changes.

Matthew Wielenga, the director of Auckland based company Light Years
Ahead Limited, which manufactures the Kronic products, said by email
yesterday that Kronic and other similar smoking products had been on
the New Zealand market for more than five years, with a significant
volume being sold without any adverse reactions.

His company was concerned to hear that under-18's had been getting
their hands on Kronic. Its target market was 18 plus, he said.

The company was lobbying the Government to move such products into the
class D restricted substance category, which would make the age
restriction a legally enforceable requirement, he added.