Ten people with severe poisoning from synthetic cannabis have been treated at Christchurch Hospital in the last 48 hours.
Nine of those admissions were male and one was female. All patients were aged between 17 to 59 years old.
Of the 10, at least three were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.
Emergency medicine specialist Paul Gee says it's a trend that has been on the rise for some time.
Some of those seeking treatment had minor effects but others were more serious.