HEROIN, cannabis, ecstasy and other psychoactive substance equivalents are legally being sold in local shop fronts.

But not for long, if the NSW government has its way.

The push for a statewide ban on the sale of synthetic drugs has become a priority, the state government says.

It comes after the recent release of a parliamentary report highlighting the ramifications and possible side-effects of the products readily available.

Police are playing cat and mouse with synthetic drug manufacturers, who chemically alter their products when a particular chemical compound is banned.

By simply changing the make-up of their product they jump through the loopholes of the legal system.

“This results in a lack of clarity for consumers about the legal status of a product and its health effects, and difficulties with enforcement and prosecution,” the Legal Affairs Committee report says.

Anyone over the age of 18 can legally purchase a range of products with similar effects to highly illegal substances in NSW.

But placing a product behind a glass counter does not guarantee it is legal.

In the few months between July and December of 2011, police reported 168 detections of synthetic cannabinoids with inaccurate or incomplete labelling in NSW.

The Committee found the majority of synthetic drugs on the market may be deemed legal, but that does not mean they are any less dangerous.

While a range of social, mental and physical ramifications were reported to the committee including mental breakdown, panic attacks, kidney failure, seizures and hallucinations.

Local Detective Inspector Steve Clarke, crime manager for the Mid North Coast Local Area Command, has welcomed the push for a ban.

He said drugs of any description had clear links to crime across the region.

Synthetic substances may have the same effects on individuals as their illegal counterparts, he said, but policing them is an entirely different ball game.

“There are difficulties because it all comes down to the particular compound,” Detective Inspector Clarke said.

“If the product meets the criteria and it’s not a prohibited drug or does not contain a prohibited compound under the Drugs Misuse and Trafficking Act then – under the law at the moment – there’s nothing we can do. Regardless of the effect it has on people.”

In Newcastle, synthetic drug use has reportedly become an “epidemic” with police strongly supporting a push for legislative change.

The NSW government is taking immediate action since the release of the parliamentary report, the NSW Minister for Fair Trading Anthony Roberts has said.

He said the message to people using or selling these items is “watch out”.

“Fair Trading officers are undertaking surveillance of the marketplace, examining the types of synthetic drugs being sold, with a view to banning the dangerous products identified in the parliamentary report,” he said.

“This is a whole of government response and as Minister for Fair Trading I am moving to protect the community from dangerous and potentially deadly synthetic drugs.”