Whitehorse RCMP used a Taser weapon to stop a suicide attempt early this morning at a downtown hotel.

At around 3 a.m. officers responded to a call that a man was threatening to commit suicide.

When police arrived, they were confronted by a 36-year-old Alberta man in the hotel lobby with a needle stuck in his arm.

The man claimed the needle contained a lethal substance.

After attempts to negotiate failed and the man started to inject the substance, police Tasered him.

"There was a real danger that this syringe contained a harmful substance, which, in a physical confrontation, could have posed a threat of death or grievous bodily harm to all parties," Sgt. Mark Groves, the M division spokesman, said of the decision to deploy the controversial weapon.

After being Tasered, the man was apprehended and taken to Whitehorse General Hospital to treat self-inflicted injuries and to undergo a second mental health assessment.

The man had been released from hospital previously.

He had been taken there by police for an earlier mental health assessment, "due to the state of his mind," according to police.

No charges have been laid and the Whitehorse detachment will continue their investigation into the matter.