The White Bull synthetic cocaine contained an illegal chemical that caused dangerous side-effects for some users.

The white, fine powder contained methylenedioxypyrovalerone, a stimulant also known as MDPV.

Wodonga’s acting Sgt Ray Causer yesterday said: “There’s no difference between selling this or selling ice over the counter”.

He said police had raided the Erotic Nights sex shop late last month and found the drug had been withdrawn from sale.

The raid came two weeks after The Border Mail revealed the synthetic cocaine on sale at the High Street sex shop contained MPDV, banned under the federal Therapeutic Goods Administration’s poisons standards in May last year as a Schedule 9 drug.

Police said its classification was raised to a Schedule 11 drug in December, placing it in the same drug of dependence category as methamphetamine.

Before the raid, police had obtained and tested a sample of White Bull.

Police ministers from across the country will meet in Darwin today to discuss a federal ban on synthetic substances.

The sex shop took White Bull off its shop’s shelves after The Border Mail contacted its manager the day before it published its White Bull test results early last month.

The store also did its own testing and confirmed the presence of MDPV.

The owner of the statewide chain, John, who refused to give his surname, yesterday said he had had “no idea” that the drug sold over the counters of his stores contained an illicit chemical.

He said he would not name his supplier, given police were investigating the matter.

But he said the supplier sold synthetic drugs “all over” and had been a supplier for Erotic Nights for “some time” without any problems.

He said the supplier had also been told by his source supplier that White Bull was a legal product and the store had been selling White Bull for several months.

“People were asking for it,” he said.

“It’s just a retail shop so if people come and ask you for it, you get it for them.”

No charges were laid as a result of the raid and Sgt Causer said police were now working through a web of suppliers to find out exactly where it had come from.

“Police are confident they can establish the up-line supply of the substance with further investigation so to completely close down the sale of White Bull,” he said.

He said the fact the drug was not for sale in the adult shop any more was positive for a community that had a number of users complain to police about worrying side-effects including psychosis, violence and depression.

“Now it has been established the substance for sale was illicit and it is no longer available to the community, which is a win,” he said.

But the problem of synthetic drugs is far from being eradicated, highlighted by the death last month of a Sydney teenager after he took synthetic LSD and jumped from a balcony.

Today’s meeting of police ministers in Darwin will discuss the issue of synthetic drugs as part of the Ministerial Council for Police and Emergency Management.

The federal Minister for Home Affairs and Justice, Jason Clare, has said the government would ask the states to consider legislation to ban synthetic drugs.

The federal government placed a 120-day ban on up to 19 synthetic drugs on June 16 in response to the NSW government implementing a similar ban on June 9.