Owing to the rise of the new herbal drug Kronic, Hunter’s Coal Mining Industry has been reported to set up testing facilities to ensure its workforce is free of the drug.

The major provider of drug screening services for Upper Hunter mining industry has stated that “labs will be set up to test for the drug within the next six to eight weeks”.

However, the drug is being sold legally around the Hunter region as well as becoming famous in the mining industry.

The General Manager of Coal Health Services, Mark O'Neil s, has stated, “there is no way of detecting Kronic with standard on-site testing, but lab tests will catch any suspected users and there are labs in New South Wales and Queensland that are looking to set themselves up to test for Kronic”.

Moreover, the use of the drug is said to be a major problem in the West Australian mining industry, as current tests revealed that one in ten of all miners tested in the State were on the drug.

In Chemcentre, after 80 tests revealed positive results, it was confirmed that the use of synthetic cannabis Kronic on mines was increasingly rampant.