Ex-legal high left girl, 16, critical

Police in Tadcaster have issued an urgent warning about the dangers of MDPV after the teenagers were taken to hospital within hours of each other.

The substance, potent even in very small doses, was made illegal last week along with mephedrone, a drug which has been linked to as many as 25 deaths in England and Wales including that of Lois Waters, 24, from Malton, North Yorkshire, who died in March.

Armed police were called to the 14-year-old boy's home on Saturday

night after he took MDPV and started making threats with a knife.

After a stand-off which continued until 1.40am, the boy was arrested for breach of the peace and taken to York District Hospital for treatment.

Later that morning, police learned that a 16-year-old girl in a critical condition at the hospital had also taken the drug.

She was put on a life-support machine to control her heart rate. Police last night described her condition as stable.

A 17-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of supplying the Class B drug has been released on police bail.

Chief Inspector Richard Anderson, North Yorkshire Police's safer neighbourhood commander for the Selby district, said: "These worrying incidents in Tadcaster over the weekend highlight the extreme dangers associated with former so-called legal highs such as MDPV and mephedrone.

"They are clearly very harmful and could easily have proved fatal on this occasion. This is precisely why they are now illegal.

"I strongly urge people, in particular teenagers and those in their early 20s, to resist the temptations to experiment with these substances.

"Not only are they putting their health and life at serious risk, there is also the very real risk of jeopardising their future by being arrested and charged for possession of a Class B drug."

Chief Insp Anderson said officers were doing "everything within our power" to stop dealers distributing MDPV and mephedrone.

Compass, a drugs dependency clinic in Selby and York, is working with police to help people who take former legal highs.

Its manager for York, Tony Towers, said: "There is still very little known about these former legal highs because they are a recent phenomenon.

"What is apparent is that these substances can have extreme effects on individuals, as demonstrated with these or other cases over the past weeks and months.

"It really is a worrying trend and one that everybody needs to aware of before more young people have their lives adversely affected by drug use."

He added that anecdotal evidence showed mixing MDPV and mephedrone with alcohol could be particularly dangerous and friends should call for medical attention if users began behaving erratically.