A MUM has demanded that controversial legal high drugs are banned after her teenage son nearly died while experimenting with one.

Emma Holloway discovered her 14-year-old son, Connor, had collapsed seconds after he took a “legal high” which was bought from a Southampton shop.

The mum-of-five told how her son lay unconscious for nearly 12 hours on Southampton General’s high dependency ward amid fears he may stop breathing at any moment.

Now following the incident the shop that sold the legal high has vowed to remove the drug off its shelves.

Emma, 33, from Maybush, said she received a phone call from Connor’s pal to say he had fallen ill at his house on Saturday seconds after dabbling with a legal high called Sensate.

She said: “I went inside. I found him collapsed on the floor. He was lifeless. I thought he would come round but he didn’t.”

An ambulance was called and rushed Connor to Southampton General Hospital.

The teenager taken to a high dependency unit with mum Emma remaining at his bedside. She told how she began fearing the worst, as her son started suffering fits and his heart rate plummeted.

She said: “Doctors were talking about putting him into a medicated coma. They feared he may have brain damage and could not give a time scale of when he would wake up.”

Connor said he experimented with the drug, bought in a shop called Up in Smoke, in Bitterne Road, Southampton, because he thought its legal status meant it was safe.

But within a few moments he began feeling unwell.

The Regents Park Community College pupil said: “I only had a tiny bit. It was instant – I just felt sick and fuzzy. I could not see properly.

“I went downstairs to put my head under the tap and that was the last thing I remember.”

His next memory was waking up nearly 11 hours later in hospital.

Emma, who has spoken out about her son’s ordeal in a bid to warn others about the dangers of legal highs, said: “When I realise how close he came to dying it is shocking. I can’t believe how dangerous it is. It should be banned.

“I feel angry. It needs to stop because basically the next person is not going to be quite as lucky as Connor. And I don’t even think the people who sell it realise the dangers or what is in it.”

After the Daily Echo revealed Connor’s ordeal to Jaz Singh, who runs Up in Smoke, he promised to remove the legal high Sensate from his shelves.

He said that the substances were not meant for human consumption and that Sensate was actually an air freshener. He pointed out that there was a warning on the packet marked not for human consumption.

Mr Singh added: “I have been selling the product for six months and have not had any problems. We run a strict over-18s policy and challenge anyone under 25.

“I will be taking it off the shelves and will not be selling that product.”