A senior doctor from Scotland warned that many users
of legal highs suffered internal injuries similar to car crash trauma victims.
Professor James Ferguson of the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary said doctors were
increasingly concerned about the legal highs' possible long-term effects on
users.
Ferguson said four men in their 30s who consistently
used legal highs had their activities linked to muscle breakdown. The breakdown
can be lethal because it could cause tissue to move into the bloodstream and
lead to liver or kidney failure, which could result in potential death.
Ferguson describes the condition as similar to car crash victims or building
collapse patients.
To prove their hypothesis, they used an enzyme test that
expected 300 or under for patients with healthy muscles. One man constantly taking
legal highs returned a result of 167,000 after taking the legally-deemed
substances. Ferguson's research sees ridiculously high levels.
“If you are using these legal highs again and again,
you have to know what the long-term effects are going to be. This is a
significant workload for us just now and it is a regular workload," he
said.
“Obviously I am worried about the people who we see at
the hospital. But I am also worried about those who use legal highs
who we don’t see.”
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