A Mount Maunganui couple is warning others not to try synthetic cannabis after their ‘terrifying' experience with the product.

Shane Foreman and Anne Wheeler say the only advice offered on the Kronic packaging was ‘use responsibly'.

Anne Wheeler and Shane Foreman experimented with the synthetic cannabis brand Kronic.

Within five minutes of inhaling a Kronic cigarette, Anne says her ‘terrifying' three hour nightmare began.

They randomly decided to purchase the legal product while at their local dairy, choosing to experiment with it at a nearby beach.

'Within minutes I couldn't move or walk,” says Anne.

'I didn't know who I was, who my partner was, where we were – I couldn't remember anything about my life or where we lived.

'I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I thought my time had come to die.”

Her partner also suffered bad side effects, enduring a long ‘zombie' like state.

The frightening experience lasted over three hours, during which the couple stayed at the beach in a disorientated and confused state.

'The most terrifying thing was that I thought I was going to stay in that state forever,” says Anne.

The 40 year old has smoked real cannabis twice before in her youth, but says the experience with the fake version was much worse.

'I'm actually anti-drugs, but we were in the dairy and we saw a poster advertising it and my partner said ‘should we try it'.

'I said no, but he bought it anyway.

'I'm 40. I thought I was responsible and would use it sensibly, but look what happened to me,” says Anne.

A recent investigation by a national news agency revealed Kronic, an R-18, item, was being sold to underage teenagers ‘as easy as chewing gum'.

Anne has warned her young nieces and nephews and urges other youths not to use the product.

'They just want to sell it – the guy at the dairy we bought it from didn't seem worried at all. He told us they sold heaps of it.”

If those over 18 do decide to use it, Anne warns people not to use it alone, inhale small amounts and wait, don't use it with alcohol and do it in a safe environment.

She admits taking 10 puffs of the Kronic cigarette in less than five minutes, but did not think that was a large amount.

'When I've tried real cannabis in the past I just got a bit giggly. So because this stuff is legal I thought it would pretty harmless.

'But it was at least 20 to 30 times worse.”

Representatives from Lightyears Ahead Limited, the company that owns and manages the Kronic product, were approached for comment but did not return phone calls.