EDITORIAL: What a load of White Bull
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THE lobby group for synthetic drug retailers has claimed artificial highs are no stronger than two glasses of wine.
The Eros Association’s public relations campaign comes only weeks after Sydney teenager Henry Kwan jumped to his death from the third floor of his home under the effects of an LSD-like substance bought online by a high school friend.
And testing done by The Border Mail on a synthetic drug sold at a Wodonga sex shop last month revealed it contained a banned chemical.
White Bull, marketed as a legal version of cocaine, had been sold at Erotic Nights stores for months but was taken off the shelves following the revelation.
The death of Henry Kwan prompted the NSW government to extend its interim ban on artificial hallucinogens.
A month before, Queensland became the first jurisdiction in Australia to ban any synthetic that mimicked the effects of an illicit drug and there are now calls for a federal ban.
But Eros this week released a statement describing synthetic drugs as a “social tonic”.
“They mostly have a mild psychoactive effect which is generally one where people do not lose control of their personality or consciousness,” it said.
It quoted anecdotal evidence estimating that three-quarters of legal products sold produced a “psychoactive effect that is no stronger or more intense than a couple of glasses of wine”.
Eros chief executive Fiona Patten said Henry Kwan’s death was not connected to legal synthetic highs. But she declined to guarantee products sold legally were safe.
Products such as kronic, skunk and black widow continue to be sold.
“Without regulation, it’s very hard to give any guarantee,” she said.
She said the product taken by Henry Kwan was not the kind sold legally at Australian adult shops.
“That substance was actually illegal, almost completely around Australia,” Ms Patten said.
“It was not bought at a retail level. It was bought from a Chinese website offshore and delivered from overseas.”
Testing of the drug on behalf of The Border Mail was done after three users approached them detailing dangerous side-effects from using the drug.
Ben, a long-term drug user from Wodonga, injected White Bull with girlfriend Liz.
“It was a bigger rush than any other drug I’ve had,” he said.
They spiralled into addiction, injecting a gram each a day before resulting psychotic delusions, violent outbursts and suicidal thoughts prompted them to stop, they said.