You'd struggle to find a school where Spice isn't present

PROFESSOR’S WARNING OVER PUPILS USING VAPES CONTAINING PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS

- NICOLE WOOTTON-CANE

IN SCHOOLS in every part of the country, an epidemic is bubbling under the surface.

Children are unknowingly vaping Spice and there is a real risk of many becoming addicted.

That's according to Professor Chris Pudney from the University of Bath.

After noticing reports of children collapsing in schools after vaping psychoactive substances, he has tested 596 vapes confiscated from schools in England - including four schools in Greater Manchester.

His findings showed 17 per cent of them contained Spice.

Often marketed as THC vapes and purchased through social media, Prof Pudney found the devices were actually far more likely to contain the cheaper and more potent street drug Spice and that these dangerous vapes were 'everywhere!

"You'd struggle to find a school where Spice isn't present," he told the M.E.N. "It is present across every social demographic strata of Greater Manchester. Regardless of where you go, from Didsbury to Oldham, it is always the same."

Spice in schools sadly isn't new - he says it has been around since 2019.

But he believes it is on the rise, although we've never had a clear picture of the scale of it before.

Prof Pudney's research shows that Spice is rarely present in single-use disposable vapes.

Instead, it is purchased as a small bottle of vape liquid, usually advertised as containing THC oil - the psychoactive component of cannabis and unwittingly vaped.