Warning over head shop drug

HEALTH authorities have issued a warning about a head shop product called Whack, which has led to severe and difficult to treat psychosis in users.

Over the past 10 days, 40 reports have been received by the National Poisons Information Centre of people suffering “severe adverse reactions” to the head shop chemical.

“The majority of these individuals are young males in their 20s and they live in different parts of Ireland,” a spokesperson for the HSE said. Twenty patients have been treated in the mid-western region. The HSE spokesperson said those affected have suffered “a range of symptoms”, including increased heart and breathing rates and raised blood pressure.