Smoking K2 before swimming may have contributed to the death of a freezing worker, a coroner, who wants synthetic cannabis products made illegal, says.
Jarrett Andre Simeon, of Feilding, died at Himatangi Beach, on January 5.
Palmerston North coroner Tim Scott found the cause of death was drowning, but sounded a warning on potentially ''lethal'' synthetic cannabis products.
''I record that it is beginning to feature as a factor in some of the deaths I am investigating and I imagine that other coroners are finding this also.
''I cannot see that it has anything to recommend it and the sooner it is made an illegal substance the better, so far as I am concerned.''
Mr Simeon, his partner and three of her friends went swimming 600m to 800m south of the area patrolled by surf lifesavers.
''That was [his] first mistake.
''The second mistake was that before entering the water, he had been smoking the legal cannabis-type product known as K2.''
Mr Simeon and his partner became caught in a rip and were carried out to sea, where they were separated.
A man on a surfboard was able to reach Mr Simeon's partner, and later joined a life-saving inflatable rescue boat crew trying to locate the missing man.
Police later arrived to do an extensive search.
Mr Simeon's body was found the next morning, just north of the main beach.
A postmortem concluded the cause of death was drowning. An analysis of his blood and urine detected THC - an active ingredient in cannabis - consistent with the information Mr Simeon had been smoking K2.
''I cannot say with any degree of accuracy what effect this substance had upon Jarrett [Simeon], but it was almost certainly negative and may well have contributed to his death.
''To go swimming after consuming K2 is, in my view, something akin to going swimming after drinking alcohol - not a smart thing to do and perhaps lethal, depending on quantity.''
