Up to one in four vapes confiscated in secondary schools in England contains the synthetic drug “spice”, according to a study.
Researchers from the University of Bath analysed 1,923 e-cigarettes and e-liquids, collected from 114 schools across seven regions in England.
They found spice in 13 per cent of overall samples, but in two areas, London and Lancashire, this rose to around 25 per cent.
Spice-laced vapes easily available
The study, led by Professor Chris Pudney from the university’s department of life sciences, also found that spice-laced vapes are easily available online.
Vapes are often marked as containing THC - the active ingredient in cannabis - despite actually containing spice, a more dangerous and cheaper substance.
Researchers surveyed online accounts on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok over three months, tracking those purporting to sell THC vapes.
They found that as the demographic of social media platforms becomes younger, more of the e-liquids marketed as THC are likely to be spice - with 12 per cent of these on Facebook compared to 68 per cent on TikTok.
The University of Bath said this mirrored real-world data, with only 1.2 per cent of vapes and e-liquids confiscated in schools containing THC and 13 per cent containing spice.
Professor Pudney said: “Spice e-liquids are trivially available on social media like TikTok and Instagram, with apparent drug dealing on these platforms. A simple search of social media platforms brings up hundreds of accounts selling this material, making them incredibly easy for young people to find.”
Serious health effects
He added: “Spice is much cheaper than THC. Young people think they’re buying a cannabis product but instead they’re being pushed a highly addictive, cheap drug with unpredictable and serious health effects, such as psychosis, seizures and heart problems.”
The report’s authors are calling for Ofcom - the media and communications regulator for the UK - to open an enforcement programme for online drug sales.
Under the Online Safety Act, social media platforms are expected to assess the risk that their services could be used to sell or promote illegal drugs. Ofcom can issue fines of up to £18 million or 10 per cent of a company’s global annual revenue, whichever is greater, against companies that do not follow their duties.
Professor Pudney added: “The Online Safety Act needs to be used to compel social media companies to find and remove the accounts selling these drugs to children. We are calling for Ofcom to be properly resourced and directed to open a specific enforcement programme dedicated to online drug sales.
“People who use spice are at high risk of coercion and abuse by drug dealers. This is a failure of online safety that is causing direct harm to children.”
The study, conducted between June and August this year, identified 120 TikTok accounts and 83 Instagram accounts offering vapes for sale that were described as containing THC.
This is despite THC being a controlled substance in the UK.
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