Police have promised a crackdown on suspected substance misuse among teens in Angus this weekend following a 16-year-old’s drug drama.
A Forfar teenager was found in a pool of his own vomit after he took a substance believed by officers to be a so-called “legal high” on Saturday.
He was only found in a comatose state after mistakenly phoning his father.
Local police and politicians have urged parents to be more aware of their children’s whereabouts, with some being given formal letters to toughen up on wayward children.
The concerned parent, who asked not to be named, said he found his son collapsed in a heap near a funfair.
He said: “He went out about 6.30pm and I got the call about 7.40pm.
“He hadn’t realised he’d pressed the button on his phone and when the call came in I could hear him speaking and his speech was slurred, so I knew something was up.
“When I found him he was lying with sick all around him and he couldn’t put two words together.”
The boy had been out with friends at a visiting funfair in the Myre, Forfar.
The man rushed his son home by car and sought medical advice by calling Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
However, he said he was told the teenager “would sleep it off”. He added: “I ended up hanging up and calling NHS 24, who sent out an ambulance.
“Meantime, he’d started being sick again and he was sweating a lot. The paramedics checked him over and said it was part of the effect of what he’d taken.
“I think parents should check up on their kids a bit more.”
“I’ve spoken to parents and half of them don’t know where their kids are or what they’re doing and it’s not fair on them because they’re good parents.
“I also think there’s not enough for youngsters to do and we need a community centre or something.
“There is the Friday Night Project but they don’t want to go to that because there are too many people telling them what to do.”
Inspector Hamish Gray spoke of the “life-changing consequences” of children taking drugs while emphasising the scale of the problem.
He said: “This call was from the parent of a 16-year-old who had received a call from his son, who I don’t think had deliberately phoned him and that he was under the influence of ecstasy or MDMA.
“However, it was more likely that he had taken what people term as legal high. I know people refer to them as legal highs but there is nothing legal about them.
“A lot of these substances have compounds which on their own would be classed as class B drugs.”
Police have issued warnings to parents of “problem” teens following instances of anti-social behaviour near Lochside Leisure Centre in the town.
Inspector Gray added: “In recent weeks in Arbroath and Forfar we’ve had an issue with large groups of youths. In Forfar they were gathering at the skatepark, near the leisure centre.
“We identified that some youths in the group had been dropped off by parents who believed they were going to the Friday night project but some of them were going to the skatepark.
“We sent letters out to six parents. Some children weren’t under the influence but may be found in certain areas where they are associating with people who are.
“We are not going to take them home because they are not doing anything wrong. The letter is to highlight to the parents that this is where they were found.
“We are not saying they were doing anything wrong but were they aware and that they may have been associating with others who weren’t behaving themselves.
“That’s the idea behind that, to encourage parents to ask those questions. This weekend there will be specific patrols in identified areas across Angus.”
Forfar councillor Glennis Middleton said she was “very concerned” to hear about the incident.
“They are always prevalent but it is not until an episode like this that perhaps the public realise how extensive the problem is,” she said.
“I would urge all parents to make themselves aware of where their young teenagers are and to make themselves aware of who their friends are.
“I would also suggest that if they have ongoing concerns, we have a very active drug and alcohol partnership which can offer help and advice.”
North-east MSP Alex Johnstone said the incident and its repercussions were indicative of a wider problem in Angus and elsewhere but added police “are not social workers”.
“I believe the issue of drug use is an ongoing problem, not just in Angus but across Scotland and the concern over legal highs reflects this,” he said.
“This problem will not be dealt with by organisations in isolation.
“It demands a multi-agency approach that delivers a comprehensive service which helps kids to stay off or come off drugs, supports parents and hits dealers hard.
“Police are not social workers but they do play a pivotal role in protecting our young people from those drug dealers who prey on them.”