Increase in head shop users seeking help

A DUBLIN psychiatrist has said there is a “marked and definite” increase in the numbers of young people presenting with problems at his clinic after using head shop products.

Dr Bobby Smyth, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Health Service Executive Youth Drug and Alcohol service in Tallaght said numbers presenting there with head shop related problems had increased from 1 per cent of his patients in 2008 to 7 per cent in 2009.

Based on the numbers presenting in the first six weeks of 2010, figures could be close to 20 per cent this year, he said.

Head shops sell synthetic drugs, some of which mimic the high achieved from the use of cannabis. But the synthetic drug, often called spice, is more potent and copies only the euphoriant in cannabis without the anti-psychotic chemicals also present in the plant.

Dr Smyth was presenting at a conference on cannabis use in young people, Chilling Out or Numbing Out, organised by the Dublin North East Drugs Task Force.

Dr Smyth said there has been a marked and definite increase in the number of teenagers attending the service describing their use of head shop products. There appeared to be a movement from cannabis to “spice” and similar products, he said.

He said he would worry about the use of the synthetic drug more than cannabis because of its potency.

“We have dealt with a couple of teenagers recently who presented with really serious anxiety states that persisted for days afterwards,” Dr Smyth said.

The teenagers had only used spice once but had experienced depersonalisation and derealisation, feelings that they or the world around them was not real.

“We reassure them it should settle after some time, but it is very distressing for them,” he said.

While the use of such products was very much at a low level in the past, he was concerned their use was “almost becoming a mainstream activity now”.

“We have enough problems in Ireland with intoxicating substances; I don’t think we need to add another one to the menu,” he said.

Also speaking at the conference, Dr Des Corrigan, chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, said young people needed to be warned of the link between cannabis use and psychosis.

Frequent users of cannabis double their chances of developing psychosis, including schizophrenia, he said.

But for people who used cannabis that are genetically susceptible to schizophrenia the risks increased tenfold.

The kinds of cannabis used also affected outcomes. While grass and marijuana contained lower levels of euphoriant compounds alongside anti-psychotic compounds, hash contained more euphoriants and hash oil contained the most.

Studies showed that users of cannabis with higher euphoriant levels had more mental health symptoms.

Dr Corrigan also warned parents that most young people got cannabis from a friend.

“There was no mysterious pusher or dealer,” he said.

“Young people’s friends are crucial. Do you know who your children’s friends are and do you know who their parents are?” he asked.

He also warned of the dangers of a free house.

“The ‘free gaff’ is a disaster!” he said.