Concerns over blotter tab seizures

A Tauranga Hospital Emergency Department doctor is hoping not to see people coming to the hospital with complications from drugs that mimic LSD and other illegal substances.

Her concern is due to an increase in seizures of blotter tabs at New Zealand borders, with Customs teams intercepting more than 16,700 of the tab-form drugs in the last 18 months – up from just 11 tabs seized during 2011.


An example of blotter tabs seized at the border.

Customs Minister Nicky Wagner says recent hospitalisations in Christchurch and deaths overseas show how easy it is to overdose on the drugs, which have high potency levels.

Tauranga Hospital acting ED clinical lead Dr Suzanne Moran says she isn't aware of any presentations to the city's hospital relating to this product – and she's hopes she won't see any in future.

'LSD is a hallucinogenic drug and my experience with ED presentations related to its use tends to involve injury occurring while people are under the influence, concerned family members who are unaware its ingestion and worried about their relative's behaviour, through to slightly more serious issues to do with its potential harmful effects.

'Patients will sometimes present with apparent mental illness, which is directly due to the effects of the drug. Taken in large quantities it can cause coma, seizures, intracranial haemorrhage and organ failure.”

Suzanne says it's not currently a common problem seen in Tauranga's ED.

'Hopefully, this will continue to be the case.”

Nicky says the tabs being seized by Customs don't contain such drugs as LSD anymore, but more dangerous and unpredictable synthetic LSD mimics such as NBOMe, or mimics of other drugs such as amphetamines.

'I'm very pleased at the huge effort Customs is making to stop these harmful blotter tabs from crossing the border.”

The penalty under the Psychoactive Substances Act for importing LSD mimics, such as NBOMe, is a maximum of two years imprisonment.

Importing LSD has a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

'The consequences for importing these and other drugs are dire, so my advice to people chancing their liberty on these substances is to think again, because you will be caught and dealt with.”

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