School children unwittingly smoking spice-spiked vapes, study finds

School children in England are unknowingly smoking vapes spiked with the synthetic drug spice, an investigation by the University of Bath and partners has found.

Using the world’s first portable device that instantly detects synthetic drugs, Professor Chris Pudney from the University of Bath tested 596 vapes confiscated from schools in England and discovered spice in 28 out of 38 (74%) schools across London, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, and South Yorkshire.

About one in six (16.6%) of the vapes contained spice, while roughly 1 in 100 (1.17%) contained THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis.

Spice can cause a wide range of dangerous side effects, including cardiac arrest.

With the school summer holidays approaching, Professor Pudney has urged parents and guardians to discuss the serious health risks posed by illegal vapes with their children.

“Teenagers think they are purchasing vapes or vape fluid containing THC or nicotine when, in fact, they are laced with spice. We know children can have cardiac arrests when they smoke spice, and I believe some have come quite close to death. Headteachers are telling me pupils are collapsing in the halls and ending up with long stays in intensive care,” he said.

“This is not just a niche, one-off occurrence that happens in a school far away from you; this is something common. As we go into the school holidays if we can have an open dialogue and talk with children about the risks they face, then they’ve got a chance of making a different choice.”

Echoing this concern, Ben Davis, headteacher at St Ambrose Barlow RC High School in Salford, who invited Professor Pudney to test a batch of confiscated vapes at the school in July, said: “We’ve had specific instances of young people under the influence of spice. I recall one young man describing how his hands felt like cartoon hands. He couldn’t control them and they felt like they didn’t belong to him. We’ve also witnessed two children collapsing.

“My message to families is, don’t assume your child is not involved. There’s a high chance they are, or they know someone who is. Please talk to them about it. Be open, non-judgmental, and accepting. As soon as you judge or blame, barriers will go up, and you won’t reach your child. This conversation is crucial for their safety.”

To help combat this issue, Professor Pudney has deployed a spice detector to Devon and Cornwall Police.

Chief Inspector Sarah Johns, Devon & Cornwall Police Prevention Command, said: “We have been aware of Professor Pudney’s work in quickly and accurately testing for the presence of controlled substances in vapes such as the synthetic cannabinoid spice and are pleased to be one of the forces which has received one of his devices for ongoing testing in our area. It will help us to ascertain the scale of this issue in Devon and Cornwall so that we can target resources most effectively.

“We work with schools across Devon and Cornwall, and in Plymouth our Child Centred Policing Team has visited all secondary schools to educate pupils on the health risks of using illegal vapes containing THC or spice. Our clear message to all young people is that the risks associated with unregulated vapes are not worth it. Young people obtaining these fluids, or being offered them, will never be able to know for sure what’s in them and as Dr Pudney’s work indicates, if its spice then that could lead to serious harm.

“There is also criminality and exploitation associated with the production and distribution of vapes or fluids containing spice or THC, and Devon & Cornwall Police will seize these whenever and wherever we are aware of their presence.”

Professor Pudney has also tested vapes in four schools in Greater Manchester, with oversight from Greater Manchester Police.

He said this is a national problem with reports of pupils falling seriously ill in schools across the country. He called on schools experiencing issues with spice-spiked vapes to come forward for testing and urged the government to prioritise this issue on a national level.

“Currently, this issue is being addressed regionally, but I urge the government to elevate it to a national harm reduction priority. I call on the Home Office and the Department for Education to highlight this problem and to provide police forces and schools with comprehensive harm reduction guidance and support,” he said.