ASSARIA, Kan. (AP) -- A Kansas sheriff says an illegal synthetic drug apparently contributed to the suicide attempt of a 53-year-old man.

The Salina Journal (http://bit.ly/O2tRA3 ) reports deputies went to the man's home in Assaria on Wednesday and found he had shot himself in the head.

Saline County Sheriff Glen Kochanowski says the man was conscious and fighting as he refused help. Six deputies held the man down while an emergency medical technician gave him sedatives.

The sheriff says the man was flown to a Wichita hospital, where he was in critical condition Thursday.

Kochanowski blamed the man's irrational behavior on so-called herbal potpourri he was thought to have been mixing with tobacco and smoking over the previous couple of days.