News / Legal highs blamed for two Shetland deaths
SHETLAND police have issued a stark warning about the dangers of legal highs, after revealing that two young islanders have died this year as a result of taking them.
The warning comes one day after the sudden death of a 41 year old Shetland man in Vidlin, though the cause of his death has yet to be confirmed.
Local area commander Eddie Graham said on Friday they were linking the death of two young people in the past six months, one who died in the last two months, to “novel psychoactive substances”, also known as synthetic or legal highs.
The chief inspector said that these drugs could contain a range of ingredients some of which are illegal drugs or other dangerous substances, and though legal were clearly marked “not for human consumption”.
“Basically users don’t know what they are consuming with some horrific side effects which can include acute psychosis, heart attacks and strokes,” he said.
“There are also significant risks when users are consuming substances in combination with alcohol and other drugs and we are linking this type of use to two recent deaths in Shetland.”
Anyone with information about the supply or consumption of legal highs or illegal drugs is asked to contact the police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
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