Online drug dealers to be hit ONLINE traders selling synthetic drugs to people in NSW are the next to be targeted as authorities crack down on the potentially lethal problem. Fair Trading Minister Anthony Roberts said yesterday that online traders were not immune to the government's new interim trading ban on synthetic drugs - even those operating overseas. "If a trader overseas is selling online to a consumer in NSW, they are in breach of the interim ban and Fair Trading will act," he said. Four Australian websites marketing synthetic drugs have already shut down since the interim ban came into force on Sunday. "This could be an indication the people behind the websites are concerned about being traced or tracked down," Mr Roberts said. One such site, Aussie Herbal Highs, posted a message on its home page blaming the media for giving synthetic drugs a bad name. "The media has successfully managed to blur the lines of what is what, to create 'synthetic drugs' - a kid-killing epidemic sweeping the country that must be stopped," it said. Unfortunately this means the AHH's responsible adult customers will have to turn to other sources to get some smoko. Other sites, such as notorious underground online traders Silk Road, are harder for authorities to track due to their clandestine nature. But an Australian Federal Police spokesman said law enforcement agencies were "well aware" of such sites and committed to combating them. "While it is not an offence to access websites such as Silk Road, it is an offence to import or attempt to import a border-controlled drug into Australia from such sites," he said. "Offenders should be aware that if they seek to import these types of materials, they will be charged and penalised."The government's new hard-line approach came as welcome news for the family of 20-year-old James Traynor, from Gunnedah in central-west NSW. Paramedics said Mr Traynor turned blue, had no blood pressure and was clinically dead after overdosing in January on a blend of synthetic marijuana known as Smokin Hot, sold at a local video store. His aunt, Robyn Traynor, said the rest of Australia needed to follow the lead of the state government's promise to crack down on its sale both online and in bricks-and-mortar shops. "This stuff shouldn't be out there at all," she said. No one really knows what effects it will have on someone. A Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman said intelligence about sites like Silk Road was shared between federal, state and international law enforcement agencies.