Drug abuse worrying ambulancemen

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34000, 14 November 1975, Page 14

Drug abuse worrying ambulancemen

Ambulancemen are < worried by the number 1 of Christchurch people taking overdoses of ■ drugs. . They handle an average of ' about 25 would-be suicides a ( month, and as many as 14 people a week have been : taken to hospital by ambulance after they had swal- ( lowed almost fatal amounts ( of drugs The ambulancemen say that the actual number of people going into hospital in * this condition is much ' greater than their figures 1 show because many are taken in by friends or relatives. t So far this month. St John I Ambulance has taken five t women and three men top

Christchurch Hospital suffering from overdoses. Most of the people who try to commit suicide are aged between 19 and 25. and most are young girls, the ambu-j, lancemen say. But one of I, them suggests that over- . doses of drugs are being* taken more to attract atten- > tion. than to commit suicide. : Many fill themselves with j drugs and then panic, calling ( us. a bov friend, or a rela- f tive. he said. ■ Most of the drugs taken t are anti-depressants. barbitu-, ( rates, and sometimes anti-1 < biotics. Incidents occur mainly at < the week-ends and during t holiday periods when people > are lonely, one ambulanceman said. U