A SELF-CONFESSED drug user has called for legal highs to be banned after smoking one left him feeling ‘horrendous’.

The 23-year-old said he believed the substances, which are sold on the high street as incense, would ‘ruin people’s lives’.

He said that just minutes after smoking Damnation, described as the most potent legal high on the market and not recommended for human consumption, he felt so ill that he thought he would have to call an ambulance.

The motoring business worker, who has asked to remain anonymous, said: “I had it and about five minutes later, the effects took place.

“I was walking and I felt like the trees were coming in on me and the path was getting longer and longer.

“It was like a nightmare and everything seemed like I was in my own little bubble.

“People think it sounds quite nice, but it is not and it is going to ruin people’s lives.”

The campaigner, who admitted that he smokes cannabis, said he wanted the substance banned to protect others.

He said: “I only had six puffs and I could not breathe.

“I felt really sleepy and tired.

“I think legal highs could be worse than illegal drugs.”

The smoker said that after being sent to prison for 19 months for football violence, he was now trying to help others.

He said: “My advice would be never take legal highs.

“Do not even experience it no matter what.

“I would say stay away from legal highs because you do not know what you are going to get.

“You do not know what is in them and that is so wrong.

“It is wrong what I did, but now I am trying to help other people and stop them going down the route I went down.”