A 44-year-old man has died in Manchester after taking a ‘legal high’.
Police are investigating the man’s death after he became ill shortly after smoking the herbal incense known as Eclipse.
Police were called to the Northern Quarter on July 19 shortly after 4.30pm before the collapsed man was taken to hospital where he died on July 25 from a heart attack.
While the exact cause of death has not yet been established, police do not believe there to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding the man’s death.
Detective Sergeant Mark Astbury said: “The circumstances surrounding the man’s death are very much ongoing.
“We know for certain he became very unwell soon after smoking the incense and are working with the coroner to establish the full circumstances.”
Eclipse is marketed as herbal incense and described on the internet as herbal ecstasy.
Herbal incense is often sold by retailers and frequently consumed by users as so called ‘legal highs’.
“Faced with what we know we feel it is important to send out what will appear to most to be extremely obvious safety message,” added Detective Sergeant Mark Astbury.
“Put simply, do not smoke herbal incense. It is not for direct inhalation and you do not know what effect it will have on your wellbeing.”
Image courtesy of Marius Mellebye, witht thanks
