The death of a teenage boy and two others hospitalised from consuming a suspected synthetic cannabis substance has prompted a warning from police.

The body of Dean Shield, 17, was found in a reserve in the Hunter Valley, NSW at about 8pm (AEDT) on Saturday night, the ABC reported.

Police said they were told the teen took a substance called “Chronic” in the hours before his body was found.

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Two other men, both aged 22, were treated for non-life threatening symptoms after consuming the same substance at nearby town, Telarah.

Police warned anyone considering experimenting with illicit or synthetic drugs not to do so, no matter how the drugs are branded.

“It’s a gamble with your life that’s just not worth taking,” a police spokesperson said.

Police said they raided a property in Treasure Street, Rutherford on Sunday afternoon, seizing a quantity of Chronic.

University of NSW National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre’s Professor Richard Mattick told the ABC that while the specifics of the drug in question was unknown, the ingredients used in these types of drugs were “a problem internationally”.

“To a certain extent because they’re all slightly different we don’t know exactly what’s in them,” he said.

Investigations are ongoing.

– with AAP