Teenager almost dies after taking 'Wild Cat'
INCIDENTS INVOLVING HEAD SHOP SUBSTANCES ON THE RISE
Related Articles
Wednesday March 10 2010
A BRAY TEENAGER went into a violent seizure that lasted over half an hour last Thursday night when she took 'Wild Cat', a substance commonly snorted through the nose to produce a 'legal high'.
Paramedics told the 17-yearold's mother that her daughter was close to death when she was taken to Loughlinstown Hospital where doctors fought for three hours to save her. That incident was followed later on Friday when two men in their 20s were brought by ambulance from a seafront hotel to hospital, also because of taking merchandise from Head Shops.
'They were suffering from chest pains, (had) trouble breathing and pins and needles,' said a HSE employee.
An ambulance worker said incidents involving people using substances from Head Shops were 'getting more and more regular in the Bray area'.
A staff member at Nirvana in Bray said that 'Wild Cat was taken off the market last week',
when a Bray People ?reporter made enquiries instore about the substance. He did not explain why the shop had taken this action.
The 17-year-old girl had been out drinking with her friends then sitting in a friend's car with the group where she took the powder.
Her older sister brought her home before midnight on Thursday. She collapsed and suffered a fit – jerking her limbs around and frothing at the mouth.
'We could only see the whites of her eyes,' said her distraught mother, adding that it took the strength of paramedics, her partner and her son to get the unconscious girl into the ambulance.
'They told me she was close to death,' she said, describing how a team of doctors a t Loughlin - s t own hospit a l worke d to save her life over three hours.
'I thought she was drunk when she first came in,' said her mum. 'Her eyes were on stalks and I asked her if she'd taken something. She was distressed and panicking.'
She said that she thought her daughter would die. 'She is lucky to be alive,' said the relieved mother. 'They are under the impression that because these drugs are legal they won't do them any harm. Someone's child is going to die. It could have been my child.' A crackdown on substances is underway with a number of psychoactive substances having been added to the controlled list of substances under the Misuse of Drugs Act. The ban will take effect in June. Wild Cat contains mephedrone, which was being sold through head shops as 'bath salts'. It was being used as a substitute for cocaine.
Side effects can include anxiety, paranoia and psychosis. The use of mephedrone has been linked to two deaths in Sweden.
- Mary FOGARTY
