Police warning over pills that put party teenagers in hospital

It is thought the youths, aged 16 and 17, took the drugs at a party in Sheffield on Friday night.

They were taken by ambulance to Northern General Hospital the following morning after displaying “aggressive behaviour”.

Officers also urged anyone who has taken the unknown pills, which are said to be about the size of paracetamol tablets, to seek urgent medical advice.

South Yorkshire Police said they believed the teenagers may have taken the drugs at an event on Effingham Road in the Attercliffe area of the city.

A youth , 17, has been arrested on suspicion of supplying the drugs and is police custody.

A spokeswoman for the force said: “Police are warning people not to take the unknown green pills and to seek urgent medical advice if already consumed.

“Anyone with information about these pills is urged to call South Yorkshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 290 of 25 May.”

It is not clear if the drugs were a form of “legal high” so prevalent at the moment, but the incident is the latest in a series that have sparked concerns about the misuse of drugs among young people.

Last year, an investigation by the Yorkshire Post found that the escalating use of party drugs by youngsters in the county was leaving scores with severe health problems usually suffered by the elderly.

Police said use of the drugs had tripled in the region in the past few years amid growing fears about a surge in the recently banned high mephedrone - also known as “meow meow” or “Mkat” - which a report revealed was linked with more than 40 deaths in 2010 – eight times as many as the previous year.

Health workers in Leeds said they were also witnessing rocketing cases caused by the now banned drug ketamine, which leaves users with diseased bladders. In some cases, the organ has been removed altogether.

There are thought to be hundreds of strains of so-called legal highs on the streets of Yorkshire, and children as young as 14 have being hospitalised for taking them. Authorities have recently launched a number of inititaives aimed at warning about the dangers of misusing drugs. This month East Riding Council began a campaign to highlight the risks of new psychoactive substances.