Paramedics are bearing the brunt of violent patients out of their minds on legal highs, the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) said today.
Frontline crews are even under threat from younger people who become unpredictable and aggressive after taking these psychoactive substances.
And the chemically complex nature of legal highs means even if a 999 call is made, it can be extremely difficult to treat.
Many cases will be logged as overdoses so exact figures are hard to come by, but crews called to emergency incidents are reporting seeing more and more injuries as a result of people taking legal highs.
In June a 29-year-old man suffered critical wounds after leaping from the sixth-floor balcony of a block of flats in Islington, Salford, while high on synthetic cannabis substitute ‘Spice’.
Read: Incredible escape – man on Spice legal high ‘can’t remember 60ft leap from Salford tower block
Sector Manager David Rigby, said: “The effects of patients taking legal highs are extremely worrying as symptoms are sporadic and unpredictable.
“We have seen such a wide range of people falling victim to these substances, from youngsters to hardened drug users, as they are found to be easily accessible and relatively cheap to buy but, as we have seen first-hand, the effects can be detrimental.”
In April the government banned five legal highs linked to ‘bizarre and violent behaviour’, include the most commonly used alternative to cocaine – ethylphenidate – which typically sold in head shops and online for around £15 a gram under the names of Gogaine, Banshee Dust or Burst.
Senior Paramedic for NWAS, Wayne Pemberton, said: “I, myself have witnessed a change in the extremity of the symptoms presented in people who have taken these ‘legal highs,’ such as hallucination, unconsciousness and even respiratory arrest and, as we have no idea what chemicals have gone into the drugs, it can be difficult to know how to treat these patients.
“It is particularly concerning seeing young people take these substances as they become extremely vulnerable and can easily get themselves into dangerous positions as they lose their inhibitions are not in control of their actions.”
