POLICE have issued renewed warnings about fake pills after two young clubbers were treated in hospital after taking red ecstasy-style tablets.
The men, aged 19 and 21, were admitted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in the early hours of yesterday morning suffering symptoms including pain in the legs, abdomen, jaw and gums.
They were also understood to have felt paranoid and confused.
Both men, who were later released, had consumed pills described as bright red in colour with a matte finish, which were also thought to have a diamond or similar logo branded on top. They are understood to be round in shape and of a similar size to an ecstasy tablet.
The death of seven Scots and eight people in Northern Ireland have been linked to the similar Green Rolex pills containing the toxic substance Paramethoxyamphetamine (PMA).
The victims include Nick Donnelly, 19, of Glasgow, and Demi Campbell, 18, of Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire.
A Police Scotland spokesman said yesterday: "The exact contents of these particular pills are unknown at this time.
"Public warnings have been issued recently in relation to the dangers of taking ecstasy, or indeed tablets being passed off as ecstasy. While these tablets are understood to have been purchased as legal highs we don't know what they may contain.
"The impact of taking any tablet or pill you do not know the exact content of can be extremely dangerous and fatal in some cases.
"Taking it just once can be one time too many and I would urge people to avoid any such pills or drugs and report any information to the police."
Dr Simon Hilton, consultant in public health medicine at NHS Grampian, added: "NHS Grampian would like to advise members of the public that these substances have not been tested for safety and therefore may present unforeseen dangers to their health."
The warnings come just weeks after police linked the deaths of young people in Scotland to a batch of fake ecstasy drugs.
Ms Campbell died on July 10 after taking the tablets. Three of her male friends were also admitted to hospital after taking the tablets.
A 24-year-old man has since been arrested in relation to the incident over allegations he was concerned in the supply of controlled drugs.
Six others from Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Ayrshire have died during the past three months after taking pills with a Rolex crown stamped on them.
Side effects of the substances include extremely high temperatures, hallucinations and convulsions.
It is understood the pills with PMA - which are now also believed to be circulating in Shetland - were also implicated in the deaths of 34-year-old Rachel Clayton and Emma Speed, 30, in Cheshire in April.
In November, nine people in Glasgow were taken to hospital suffering high fever, agitation and seizures after buying illicit tablets and powder at or near four city centre bars and nightclubs.
They were believed to have originated from the same batch.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article