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SUPER-strength cannabis is creating a “mental health timebomb” among young Scots, says a leading addiction expert.

The warning comes after Government figures revealed a big increase in youngsters seeking medical help as a result of taking the drug.

Nearly three-quarters of under-20s requiring treatment admitted they smoked marijuana.

Last night, Peter McCann, owner of Castle Craig Hospital, a rehab clinic in the Borders, warned that high powered “skunk” on the market today is highly addictive. He said: “This stuff isn’t like the cannabis being smoked in the 1960s and 70s, this is 10 times stronger.

“For young men, whose brains aren’t fully developed, it is incredibly dangerous. With an existing mental health issue it can be devastating.

“Unless we start taking this drug seriously we will have a mental health timebomb to deal with.”

The NHS’s Scottish Drug Misuse Database conducts a yearly survey of new patients.

Between 2007 and 2010, the proportion of newly-referred teenagers – around 800 per year – who admitted to taking cannabis remained steady at 63 per cent.

But in 2011, the figure rose to 66 per cent and last year jumped to 72 per cent. Among under-16s, it soared from 76 per cent to 94 per cent. Cannabis has become the most widely used drug among newly referred patients in several regions including West Dunbartonshire, West Lothian, Moray, the Western Isles and Shetland.

And the number seeking help primarily because of cannabis rose in a year from 1385 to 1543.

Named for its distinctive smell, skunk tends to be grown in indoor “farms”, under lights, using hydroponics.

Katy MacLeod, of Edinburgh-based drug counselling charity Crew 2000, added: “Cannabis can trigger negative side effects and this appears to be pronounced with younger age groups.

“Another trend is synthetic cannabinoids, commonly referred to as legal highs.

“These appear to trigger more adverse effects than natural cannabis.”