12-year-old Cork boy ‘didn’t know where he was or his mother’s name’ after vaping HHC

A 12-year-old boy from West Cork had to be hospitalised after vaping HHC, a legal product that has some of the properties of cannabis, and was so affected by the drug he did not know where he was or his mother’s name, a councillor told this week’s meeting of Cork County Council.

West Cork Social Democrats councillor Isobel Towse said two cases were highlighted to her in Clonakilty of people hospitalised after vaping HHC.

“HHC, as most people know, is a cannabinoid product, which has rapidly emerged on the European and Irish markets since 2022 and is sold predominantly in vape shops and in edible form around the country, and my own MD of West Cork,” she said.

“It is a man-made chemical, developed from CBD. While both CBD and HHC are legal, CBD is natural and non-psychoactive, whereas HHC is artificial and psychoactive.”

Ms Towse said the vapes that had been used in both of the cases that had been highlighted to her were the same brand.

“I’m appealing to people to resist purchasing this product,” she said. “The potential risks are too high.

“In one case in Clonakilty, a 12-year-old who had accessed a vape through an older teen, became completely out of it after vaping it, didn’t know where he was or his mother’s name, and had 24 hours in hospital of symptoms so severe he was tested for opioid overdose.

“Another person in Clonakilty...was diagnosed with substance induced psychosis following vaping HHC, and had attempted to self-harm and required ission to [a] psychiatric unit.

“It is far too easy for children and teens to get their hands on HHC.”

The councillor’s colleague in Dáil Éireann, TD Liam Quaide, had asked a parliamentary question about the prospect of banning it, and was told on March 19 that this legislation would be brought to Government in the coming weeks.

“This delay is unacceptable,” Ms Towse said.

“The HSE has been expressing concerns about HHC for well over a year now, and it is putting more pressure onto already stretched mental health and medical services.

“HHC has already been banned in the UK and at least 17 European countries. We need to move faster on banning it here.”

Party colleague, councillor Ann Bambury, who ed Ms Towse’s call for a ban, said that the HSE should be looking at education programmes which discourage young people from using HHC, and said measures should be adapted urgently to protect the vulnerable, particularly young people, from the drug.

Independent councillor Peter O’Donoghue expressed his full for the motion. “According to the College of Psychiatrists, they’re only aware of it for over a year and, already, 20% of young adults presenting with psychosis are addicted to HHC,” he said.

The motion, calling for a letter to be written to the minister for health to urge her to bring forward legislation as a matter of urgency to add HHC to the list of Schedule 1 controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs legislative framework, was agreed.