A SPECIALIST doctor believes it is only a matter of time before more people die from taking so-called legal highs, as a survey showed the number of young people needing emergency treatment after taking them has more than trebled in a year.
Patients who take the substances are often so seriously ill when they come to hospital that urgent specialist treatment is needed, said Dr Richard Stevenson of Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
"When these patients arrive we can only treat the symptoms, because we don't know what they have taken –and neither do they," said the senior speciality doctor in emergency medicine.
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