Whacked Out!

Three people were admitted to Wexford General Hospital’s A&E department over the weekend, having tried new head shop drug ‘Whack’.

The drug ‘Whack’ is essentially man-made cocaine, so many of the symptoms are like that of cocaine such as agitation, hallucination, paranoia and anxiety.

It increases the heart rate and like cocaine may cause heart attacks in young people. The effects of the drug seem to be very prolonged, with reports of symptoms lasting for up to a week.

Wexford A&E consultant Dr. Paul Kelly said the frightening thing about this drug is that people are presenting with heart conditions and in states of psychosis a week after ingesting it.

“Two people presented one night after trying Whack, while one man presented another night.

The symptoms are much longer lasting than other head shop drugs. People are presenting up to a week later suffering from acute psychotic symptoms. This seems to be a nationwide thing,” Dr. Kelly said.

“They can’t sleep and are very agitated and panicky and distressed. This is synthetic cocaine.

These drugs can cause an increase in adrenaline. It is very dangerous and can lead to heart attacks even in young people. We haven’t had any yet, but there was a case in an Irish hospital.”

Dr. Kelly said Whack can lead to the destruction of muscle. When mixed with alcohol it is potentially lethal.

“Cocaine and alcohol are two different drugs; alcohol is a downer and cocaine is an upper. People take them in sequence. That is why there is such a high rate of cocaine-related illness in Ireland.” 

Source: Wexford Echo, 17/06/2010