Banbridge police on patrol.

They said the young man was in such a state he didn’t even recognise the police - trying to urinate in front of them on a number of occasions.

In a post on their social media police said of the man: “To say he was ‘off his face’ doesn’t do it justice. He couldn’t stand, wasn’t really sure where he was and, judging by the fact he tried to pee in front of us in the middle of the street on five occasions, didn’t even register that we were police.”

“One thing he was clear on, and that was that he’d taken an ‘E’ during the night. If you saw our boy trying to dance round Banbridge station while we waited for his dad to pick him up, you might think it was a bit of a laugh, but why was he there?

“That’s where it gets more serious. He could barely stand unaided, let alone walk straight. If we’d left him on his own, he would have without doubt caused himself serious injury and if he’d stumbled out in front of a car, the call to his parents would be to identify his body, not to pick him up.”

They went on: “As it was, even when put in front of a toilet, he managed to fall asleep against a wall before peeing all over himself. Transfer that sort of self sufficiency into trying to walk home. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

“If it weren’t for his parents who had to be woken from their bed in the early hours, he would have taken up a hospital bed, possibly an ambulance.

“Regardless, our crew was off the ground and away from patrolling for well over an hour to deal with him. Thankfully, that was the only emergency resource required.”

Drugs, they said, are not victimless: “They put people in a position where they can’t look after themselves and need us to turn into uniformed baby sitters. He’s fortunate that the worst he has to worry about is his dad this morning.