MEDICAL experts have warned against the dangerous practice of injecting vodka directly into the bloodstream.

The Herald has learnt that some young people in South Craven are experimenting with injecting the alcoholic drink to get a quick "buzz".

But drug and alcohol agencies have warned that attempting anything like this could have serious consequences.

The practice came to light after Sutton shopkeeper and local councillor, Stephen Place, noticed a rapid increase in sales of small bottles of vodka.

He has been told that the alcohol is being loaded into a syringe before being injected into the arm.

"Apparently this has been going on for a number of weeks," he told the Herald.

"I've seen some young people coming in and out of the shop all the time, and all they're buying is these quarter bottles of vodka."

"I know that my sales of alcohol increase at this time of year, but I was surprised by the amount of sales of these small bottles because they're not the type to sell well at Christmas."

Mr Place added that his investigations had shown the practice was being attempted by people in their early 20s, but he did not know if they were already drug users.

"People are quite open about it because they are not breaking the law as possession of alcohol is not illegal," he said.

"My biggest worry is what they are using to inject it with, because if they are sharing needles they could catch hepatitis or even HIV."

Sue Watts, from Airedale NHS Trust's drug and alcohol unit, said this was the first time she had heard of such a practice.

"It's very dangerous because you can't control the amount of alcohol which will be getting to your brain," she said.

"Alcohol is not an injectable substance and it's certainly not clean.

"Everything which is prepared for injection is made sterile and is totally soluble.

"This is a very uncommon phenomena and hopefully short lived. People will have this fantasy that vodka is clean because it's a clear liquid, but that is not the case."

And a spokesman for the Craven Organisation for Drugs and Alcohol (CODA) said she had heard of a similar experiment around five years ago.

"The consequences of injecting intravenously are very dangerous," she said.

"The list of problems it can cause is endless and this is a silly thing to do."

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