PARAMEDICS have issued a warning after another 20 people rang 999 over the weekend after taking legal highs.

An ambulance was set to each of the incidents, including one cardiac arrest.

The weekend incidents take the total recorded by the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) to 292 since New Year’s Day.

Symptoms recorded range from seizures, unconsciousness, shortness of breath, vomiting, aggression, palpitations, agitation and even foaming at the mouth.

The ambulance service says most of the incidents have been concentrated in the West End of Newcastle, but cases have also been recorded in Blyth, Sunderland and Gateshead.

Simon Swallow, the NEAS head of Resilience and Special Operations, Simon Swallow, said: “There have been a worrying number of calls for patients experiencing potential life-threatening symptoms as a result of taking legal highs.

“These so-called legal highs are not safe to use and carry a serious health risk. The chemicals they contain have in most cases never been used before in drugs for human consumption and these incidents in Newcastle are putting people’s lives at risk.”

Mr Swallow added: “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.

“We are urging people not to take these so-called legal highs as they are putting their own lives in danger and also endangering the lives of others because these calls are potentially delaying our response to someone else who is suffering a heart attack or other life-threatening condition.”