A 15-year-old girl has died in Devon after taking a suspected “legal high” in a park with friends.
She was found unconscious in Bakers Park in Newton Abbot in the early hours on Saturday morning with two other teenage girls, who were taken to hospital as a precaution.
Devon and Cornwall police said officers were called at 4.50am by the ambulance service, who took the trio to Torbay District Hospital.
“Sadly, the girl later died at hospital. Her next of kin have been informed and police are supporting the family,” a spokesperson added.
“Police currently believe that the girls had taken a new psychoactive substance, more commonly referred to as ‘legal highs’, and had suffered adverse reaction.”
Investigators are appealing for anyone with information to contact 101, quoting log number 220 for 15 July.
The teenager’s death came a day after the Government launched a new drug strategy targeting both illegal substances and “legal highs”, performance enhancers, “chemsex” drugs for sexual activity and the misuse of prescription medicines.
The Home Office is launching a new “intelligence system” targeting products, which emulate the effects of drugs including speed and cannabis, to stay a step ahead of new inventions.
“Since becoming Home Secretary I have seen first-hand how drugs can destroy lives,” Amber Rudd said.
“I am determined to confront the scale of this issue and prevent drug misuse devastating our families and communities.”
New psychoactive substances (NPS) like Spice, laughing gas and Mephedrone were made illegal in May last year but remain common in British cities and have been linked to several deaths.
“There’s not enough known about many of these drugs to know about their potency, their effects on people, or what happens when they’re used with other substances or alcohol,” warns the Frank drugs advice service.
But critics have warned of the danger of pushing NPS, like the wider drugs trade, underground with a blanket prohibition, potentially generating custom for criminal gangs and driving the trade on to the unregulated “dark web”.
Home Office statistics show the number of adults aged between 16 and 59 who take drugs is at now at 8 per cent - a 2.5 per cent drop from 10 years ago – but drug deaths in England and Wales are at a record high.
