It did go away for a while, but it's definitely back now...

AS HAUNTING SCENES OF ‘ZOMBIE-LIKE' PEOPLE RETURN TO OUR STREETS, THE M.E.N. ASKS ROUGH SLEEPERS AND HOMELESS CHARITY WORKERS WHY SPICE IS HERE AGAIN

- CHRIS SLATER

THE images capture a woman in a hauntingly familiar pose.

On one of Manchester's grandest streets, outside a department store, she is bent as if she's trying to pick something up.

Almost touching her toes, she remains motionless for minutes.

Before long, she collapses to the ground, and bystanders are calling police for help.

The disturbing scene is eerily reminiscent of another time. The time when the M.E.N. first reported on a scourge that was leaving vulnerable people frozen in 'zombie-like' states across the city centre.

The sight of people wasted on synthetic cannabinoids would become so familiar, seven years ago, that national headlines would go on to dub the city 'Spicechester, home of the 'living dead! While we can't know for sure, experts told the M.E.N. they believed the woman was on Spice. They say we are still a long way from those dark days of 2017, when there were once 58 drug-related emergency call-outs to the city centre in a single weekend.

But among those living on the streets and those trying to help them, there is a concern that some desperate, vulnerable people may be turning b back to Spice.

On the same day the haunting picture was sent to the M.E.N., yet more b people could be seen in catatonic t states as the sun beamed down on the a city centre, in between June showers.

There's the usual spilling out of office blocks for a midmorning coffee break, as visitors and shoppers headed towards Market Street and the Arndale.

Then, in between the hubbub of S everyday life, as the M.E.N walks down from Piccadilly station towards the Gardens, we come across a man slumped on the steps of a hotel.

His head rests in his folded arms, which are on his knees. He doesn't I move a muscle for several minutes.

Eventually, a dishevelled-looking man with a bag for life walks past. He pokes him to say 'hello' and check he is okay.