NEARLY 90 people have called for an ambulance in the last seven days after taking legal highs.

Last week, the North East Ambulance Service reported a spike in 999 calls centred on the west end of Newcastle with symptoms including seizures, unconsciousness and even foaming at the mouth.

An ambulance was sent to each incident to convey the patients to hospital, but many of the patients have absconded or refused treatment.

Today, the service revealed that the number of emergency calls has continued to rise over the weekend.

Simon Swallow, Head of Resilience and Special Operations with the North East Ambulance Service, said: “These so-called legal highs are not safe to use and carry a serious health risk and are putting people’s lives at risk.

“We raised our operational status to “Severe Pressure” in December as result of growing demand on the service during winter and these call-outs are putting an additional burden on our service by preventing us from being available to attend other life-threatening emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes”.

Professor Eugene Milne, Newcastle’s Director of Public Health, said: “These substances are often dangerous, particularly when mixed with other drugs, alcohol or medication. When you take a so-called legal high, you don’t know what is in it or how strong it may be.

"The escalating number of incidents we are seeing clearly illustrates this danger and could lead to serious illness, injury and death. In addition, this problem is using much valuable time and effort in essential services that are already under pressure.”