Victoria’s Chief health officer has today released a health warning about synthetic cannabis following the hospitalisation of three males in the last 36 hours.
It is suspected that the patients experienced serious adverse reactions to the synthetic cannabis ‘Marley’ purchased in Pakenham.
You can read the full health warning here.
Youth AOD workers are advised to be alert for young people who have used synthetic cannabis and present with any of the following symptoms;
- Agitation
- Confusion
- Seizures
- Vomiting
- Loss of consciousness
- High or low blood pressure (hyper/hypotension)
- Any chest pain or discomfort (myocardial ischaemia or myocardial dysfunction)
If in doubt, call 000 or for clinical information contact Victorian Poisons Information Centre – 13 11 26 and ask to speak to the Clinical Toxicologist.
YoDAA further encourages AOD workers to speak to young people using synthetic cannabis about this news and take the oppertunity to discuss potential harms of their use and harm minimisation stratagies.
Synthetic Cannabis has been a hot topic at YoDAA for some time, for background information check out Synthetic Cannabis – Fast Facts for Workers, Real vs Synthetic Cannabis , and this article about Online Drug Markets.
We wish the three people affected a safe recovery.
