Regular Tai High, K2, Illusion, Kronic and other legal high consumption

Hello, I am a male, 19 years old living in the Waikato. I have been smoking legal highs since i was about 15 (I look older then people my age and so wasnt asked for id) and I have been conscious of some if not many of the effects they have had on me since.

Why start? before legals, i was just starting on marijuana and ciggys, however you get arrested if caught smoking weed in public etc. then legals came, the "all natural" legal alternative. i didnt need to contact a seedy dealer to obtain them and i could get high on the beach mid summer, plus they flavored my ciggys rather nicely.

Initial effects (age 15-16)
when i get high its completely out of this world, amazing euphoria, INCREASED sleep and eating. i felt i could keep doing it with my friends every night, and so we did. for a long time. to start there were no bad side effects (unless mum caught me while i was stoned, then the paranoia kicks in)

dependance started to become noticeable to me after approx. 4 months of smoking. mainly depression, sleeplessness and becoming increasingly unmotivated to participate in sport / school / socializing.

my close friends changed from childhood friends to fellow legal smokers. I started feeling less and less excited about everything/anything (sex, partying, food, earning money...)

from then until now the longest break from smoking legals has been 6 weeks when I went to germany in june 2012. the first week abroad i didnt sleep for 4 days (i was jet lagged too though) and the ensuing swings between depression and mania made travelling that much harder. once back in the country i promised self i wouldnt touch them again. 3 days after that and BOOM! hardly a sober day since.

This has now bloomed into a full dependancy, sleep doesnt come without it. lucky to have the stomach for more then one meal a day. i can sit on the couch even without being stoned for hours and just lose track of time. losing days aswell ie: gets to end of the week and you want to get really baked friday night. wake up the following monday night thinking its saturday morning.

After abusing these drugs I also feel mentally depleted, as if the sharp witty spark i had when i was younger has been covered in all the tar and chemicals from the legals, leaving a stoned brain dead shell.

However, for all of those people out there who automatically want to ban these substances due to the "Immoral" use of drugs, don't. these substances should be banned because they contain dangerous chemicals, not because of somebodies own personal values. we are here to work this out systematically and fairly, not push our own values on others. since you have to be 18 or over to purchase, i feel that ADULTS should still be able to decide whether they want to get stoned on this or not, they are responsible for themselves. Addiction is nothing new, its just a new substance.

I hope this recount will help anyone wanting to understand the subject better