Ever since the recent surge in synthetic drug abuse and deaths, there's been a growing number of videos claiming to expose what it does to people.
The drug is also known as 'synthetic cannabis', due to its appearance, and the 'zombie drug', due to how affected users appear.
One such video, titled "Wasted on Synnies", was posted on Facebook appearing to show a cleaner entering a flat to find two women convulsing, high on the synthetic drug.
- Do you know what synthetic cannabis is?
- End poverty and people won't smoke synthetics - campaigner
- Drug users must take responsibility after synthetic cannabis deaths - PM
It's gained more than 400,000 views but all isn't as it appears - everyone in the video is an actor. No drugs were taken.
An organisation calling itself Kaosis has claimed responsibility for the video and while the footage itself was fake, one of its leaders told Three's The Project the issue is real.
"This is a real problem affecting real New Zealanders, and we want real change," he said.
He denied the whole thing was just a ruse to get 'likes' on social media. The Kaosis leader spoke to The Project on condition of anonymity, which he insisted was to keep the focus on the issue, rather than an individual.
"This is for Aotearoa, this is for New Zealand, this is for our communities, this is for our youths," he said, calling it a "scourge".
Kaosis later released a second video to back up the first, done in the style of the 'Anonymous' videos from the US.
In it, a leader berates the synthetic spread as being "as bad as domestic terrorism" and calls on the Government to take action.
Ten people died in Auckland in July due to the synthetic drug, leading the chief coroner to issue a public warning.
"What more is it going to take for the Government to take notice?" the Kaosis leader asked.
"This seriously is affecting our communities - real whanau, real families. People are dying and we really care about this issue."
Newshub.
