Mimicking the effects: The dangers of synthetic drugs

The health and safety implications of using illicit drugs such as cannabis, cocaine and amphetamines are well documented and well known. However, the full extent of the synthetic drug market in Australia remains unclear, with experts warning that synthetic substances pose significant potential risks for work health and safety.

Currently, up to 30 variants have been identified in Australia and 300 have appeared worldwide, according to Dr David Allen, managing director of Drug and Alcohol Solutions Australia. The two main types of synthetic drugs are those designed to mimic the effects of cannabis (for example, spice, kronic and kaos) and stimulants such as cocaine or amphetamines (for example, ?bath salts?). 

The deputy director of the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA) at Flinders University Ken Pidd explained that while synthetic drugs are designed to mimic the effects (ie the ?high?) of illicit drugs such as cannabis and amphetamines, the potential for risk to workplace health and safety may even be higher than that posed by employees using these synthetic substances? natural counterparts.

?Very little research has been undertaken concerning the health and safety risks of synthetic drugs,? Pidd said. ?However, the use of synthetic stimulants has been associated with heart palpitations, hallucinations, panic attacks, heart attack, kidney and liver failure and is also linked to a number of deaths.?

He added that while the use of illicit ?natural? drugs is currently more prevalent than the use of synthetic substances, synthetic drugs continue to be relatively easy to purchase, both online and in specialty shops (eg from ?adult? stores, tobacconists, ?head? shops or, in the case of the stimulant Jack3d, from sports nutrition and body-building supplement suppliers).

{{image2-a:r-w:200}}?Until 2011, all these types of synthetic drugs were legal in Australia and some remain legal today. It is likely that the market will continue to grow as new types of synthetic cannabis and synthetic stimulants emerge with different chemical compounds to those legislated against.?

Jack3d, containing the stimulant dimethylamylamine (DMAA), was banned last year when the Therapeutic Goods Administration prohibited the use of DMAA.

As well as limited research on the short, medium and long term effects of synthetic substances, there are concerns about what is actually in so called ?legal highs?.

?Because synthetic drugs emerge relatively quickly, there is often little understanding of the effects and potential implications they may have on human behaviour and cognition,? Carlie Holt, partner in the workplace group at Sparke Helmore Lawyers, explained.

?As many synthetic drugs are not explicitly prohibited and/or contain legal substances, they have the potential to foster the belief that these drugs are permissible or not as dangerous as their illegal counterparts.?

Holt cited an incident in 2011 when a worker in a Western Australian mine died after taking DMAA, commonly used by mine workers to help them stay awake. It was reported that within the space of 20 to 30 minutes, after mixing the substance with beer, the worker suffered a brain haemorrhage and died.

?A preliminary issue for workplace health and safety is the difficulty for workplaces to keep informed on trends and developments in synthetic drugs,? Holt said. ?As such, workplaces are unable to prescribe with reasonable specificity what is and what is not acceptable when it comes to the use of substances that may be legal but impact upon a worker?s functions and abilities.?

Dr Lucy Burns, head of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre?s (NDARC) drug monitoring systems, said an extra problem with these drugs is that often they do not contain what?s on the label and may incorporate large amounts of other substances such as caffeine.

?They have also been found to be mixed with other more toxic substances,? she added. ?This presents a problem because when people become ill or overdose, they don?t know what they have taken and the health services don?t know what they are treating. This problem is the same in the workplace ? when a person becomes ill, it will be hard for those attending to that person to know how to help.?

According to Burns, the internet is a significant factor behind the synthetic drug market, providing a vehicle for both sellers and buyers. A snapshot of online drug retailers undertaken by the NDARC in July 2012 found close to 100 retailers selling to users in Australia. About half of these were selling generic herbal highs, the ingredients of which were unclear. 

{{image3-a:l-w:200}}The remaining 48 retailers were selling largely controlled substances including mephedrone (also known as ?miaow, miaow?) and other phenethylamines, stimulants such as synthacaine, synthetic cannabinoids, tryptamines such as DMT and dissociatives such as salvia divinorum.

The survey did not include eBay, Gumtree or social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. ?Thus the size of the problem is likely to be significant,? Burns summed up.

Nearly half of regular ecstasy users surveyed for the centre?s Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS) annual drug trends survey in 2011 had bought ?legal highs? in the previous six months.

Recently, Queensland police reported there had been more synthetic drug seizures in Mount Isa than any other area of Queensland and they attributed this largely to the number of mining workers turning to synthetic drugs to avoid positive workplace drug tests.

Scott Barklamb, the executive director for industry at the Australian Mines and Metals Association, is adamant the workplace health and safety obligations of Australian resource employers are among the most stringent of any industry globally.

?As such, drug and alcohol testing is a critical feature of many Australian workplaces, and resource employers are dedicated to meeting these obligations,? he said. ?It is something employers take very seriously, given they have an inherent responsibility to provide a healthy and safe working environment for their workers.?

With regard to synthetic drugs, Barklamb said the resource industry had not witnessed any notable increase in the usage of these drugs among mine workers but ?certainly any wider social trends regarding drug use are monitored closely by OHS officers. The science behind drug testing processes on mining sites is constantly evolving in line with any requirement to detect new synthetic substances.?

Pidd said it was unlikely synthetic drugs would take over from other commonly used illicit drugs but he believes the use of synthetic drugs is likely to become more prevalent, especially among those regularly subjected to workplace drug testing. 

He said standard workplace drug tests used to detect cannabis, amphetamines and cocaine would not detect synthetic cannabis or synthetic stimulant use. However, he has noted a relatively new test for synthetic cannabis.

Screens and tests for certain chemicals found in synthetic cannabis and stimulants are available, according to a spokesperson for the Western Australian Government?s ChemCentre. The centre acknowledges that testing for synthetic drugs can be challenging, as the materials used to manufacture them change, but it is confident it is able to stay in front of drug trends.

However, Pidd is not so sure of this. ?It is likely that new forms of synthetic cannabis and synthetic stimulants will be developed that are less detectable and drug testing technology will continually lag behind such developments.?

He believes drug testing has a legitimate role to play addressing drug-related risk to workplace safety with regard to illicit drug use but he has noted that the synthetic drug market serves to highlight the inherent limitations of testing as a workplace safety strategy. 

?One unintentional outcome of drug testing is that some workers may change their behaviour to avoid positive workplace drug tests rather than changing their behaviour to reduce drug-related risk to safety.?

Pidd argued drug testing as a stand-alone strategy was not effective. 

?Testing does not detect fatigue, illness, injury, stress or a range of other factors that can increase levels of risk to workplace safety and productivity. 

To adequately address drug-related risk and other fit for work issues, a more comprehensive approach is needed that incorporates additional strategies that contribute to improving the broader workplace safety culture and overall well-being of employees and the organisation.

?Such strategies need to be tailored to suit the specific needs and resources of individual workplaces and build the capacity of all employees to identify and deal with risk to workplace safety and productivity.?

Holt agreed and said it was important workers understood that, regardless of the legal status of substances, anything that impairs or alters an employee?s performance or faculties may pose a serious threat to the health and safety of others and may result in disciplinary sanctions. 

?Employers should review their current drug and alcohol policies to ensure that definitions provide sufficient coverage for substances that may not be illegal but have the potential to influence performance and behaviour,? she warned. ?