A Mosgiel woman is angry after synthetic cannabis was sold to her 16-year-old son yesterday.
The woman, who later went to the shop and confronted the saleswoman, realised something was amiss when her partner noticed $13 was missing from his wallet.
The concerned mother rushed to the bus stop where her 16-year-old son was due to be picked up and saw him leaving the shop with synthetic cannabis.
He ran away, so she confronted the saleswoman in the shop, who said her son had produced identification of an 18-year-old to buy the product, the Mosgiel mother said.
''He doesn't even look 18 ... He's my blue-eyed boy.''
Shops that sold synthetic cannabis were destroying families, she said.
''I hope karma comes back and bites them, because it's destroying my family.
''I hate waking up daily because of this, and walking on eggshells around the house. [I'm] just trying to be a protective mum thinking: `What have I done? What have I stuffed up?'''We work hard, we're tough on the kids. They have chores. We go camping at Christmas time.
''It's killing me emotionally, financially, and it's killing my family.''
Last September, her son assaulted her when she confronted him about the smell of synthetic cannabis in his room.
When he wasn't smoking synthetic cannabis, he was a ''good kid'', but when he smoked the substance his personality changed, she said.
''Last night he was doing chores and this morning he's stealing money.''
She had lodged a complaint against the shop with Mosgiel police, she said.
Constable Greg Park, of Mosgiel, said police would inform the Health Ministry that a 16-year-old youth was sold a synthetic cannabis product, Illusion, in Mosgiel yesterday.
Const Park said there was no ''direct evidence'' for use in a court and the shop owner had told police the youth had given identification to prove he was aged 18.
''The [shop owner] hasn't done a very good job. They can't tell me what ID was used and they've got no records to back up their claim, but at this stage that's as far as it's gone.''
The saleswoman told the Otago Daily Times she sold the synthetic cannabis to the youth yesterday and she had not asked him for identification.
However, he was a regular customer and had previously produced identification for an 18-year-old. She was upset and ''felt sick'' to have sold synthetic cannabis to a youth, she said.
- shawn.mcavinue@odt.co.nz [1]
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[1] mailto:shawn.mcavinue@odt.co.nz