Teachers across the country warn children ‘at huge risk’ as vapes spiked with Spice
Teachers from across the country have warned children are facing an “immediate risk, potentially to life” as a result of vapes being spiked with illicit substances.
It comes as a professor who has been testing hundreds of confiscated vapes found more than 1 in 10 contain Spice or THC.
Professor Chris Pudney, from the University of Bath, said it is a “struggle” to find a school in England where vapes containing Spice were not present. He fears a child will die this summer as a result of the issue.
One headteacher said young people are “putting themselves at huge risk” by purchasing vapes, often from illegal sources.
He said children do not know what they are inhaling, saying that he’d witnessed children collapsing, experiencing chest palpitations and suffering significant mental health implications.
Data shared with ITV News West Country shows that 85% of teachers surveyed across the country believe vaping is a problem on school premises.
The survey of 4,000 teachers carried out by NASUWT, a teachers’ union, revealed that many pupils between the ages of 11 and 16 are vaping regularly, causing widespread issues with health, safety, behaviour, and damage to school property.
Ben Davis, headteacher at St Ambrose Barlow RC High School, in Salford, is among those with concerns.
He recently enlisted the help of Professor Pudney, who has developed a unique testing kit to map the problem.
The Professor of Applied Biochemistry has sampled devices from 30 schools in England and found Spice present in vapes taken from 25 of those schools.
He joined Mr Davis at his school in Salford to test a number of vapes taken off pupils - and both Spice and THC were present.
Following the discovery, Mr Davies told ITV News he feared the discovery at his school was just the “tip of the iceberg”.
He said: “I'm very concerned by the idea that children are having their vapes spiked with Spice and with other substances.
“I think the issue has been a live one for quite some time and it's very hard for schools and other agencies to get to grips with something like this.
“Like all schools we've had several instances where young people appear to have taken substances that have been spiked into their vapes.
“We've seen quite serious medical episodes take place, we've seen young people displaying symptoms that you would associate with drug use and we've seen them deal with quite significant mental health impacts as a result of that.
“In the moment, what we've sometimes seen, is what you might call dissociation, where they appear not to be within themselves, they appear not to understand what's going on around them.
“We've had children talking about the fact their limbs appear to be inflating, we've had young people experiencing very serious chest palpitations or panic attack-like symptoms, anxiety-like symptoms.
“And in a couple of cases we've had young people collapsing as well.
“But today what we've found confirms what we felt, which is there was a presence of Spice in one vape and THC in three of the vapes.
“I think it reinforces out of a very small sample the scale of the issue that if that was multiplied across schools as it will be, and across communities, then you're talking about a high prevalence of this.
“We believe that this is a very widespread issue, it's not unique just to this area, certainly not just to this school, or even this region of the UK.
“This is widespread and young people have access to very cheap substances through vapes.
“They often do not know what they are taking, they sometimes don't even know why they're taking it, sometimes it's just curiosity, and they're putting themselves at huge risk.
“Because we know the school holidays are just around the corner and if young people have an episode after taking a vape laced with Spice - they won't be around a professional, adults or other children they might be by themselves in a bedroom or in a park somewhere and that exposes them to an immediate risk, potentially to life.”
Anna Goddard, Director of Safeguarding at St Ambrose Barlow, added: “We've had suspicions it's been going on in this school and we've got evidence of that now after the tests.
“Some of the children we know have been blue lighted to hospital.
“This is a national issue and we need to educate our parents and educate our young people. This isn't about criminalising our young people, this is about educating them.”
Mark Woodlock, headteacher of The Blue School, in Wells, Somerset, has taken on a hard line approach to vapes with any children caught with the devices suspended.
He previously called on parents to help him combat the problem and worked with other headteachers to campaign for a change in the law.
He told ITV News: “We've been worried for quite some time.
“We've communicated strongly to the parents about the need to be very vigilant about what their children are doing because a number of our students simply aren't aware at all of the potential of what could be in those vapes.
“They are gaining those vapes often from illegal sources, often from someone on the street, who they don't necessarily know very well, and what we know is those vapes have been modified and contain, well who knows what they contain?
“And that's the point they have no idea what they really contain.
“We have had some experiences where students have clearly taken some sort of substance that is necessary for us to take action.
“It's much bigger to worry about the student who we don't see because inside school we're very closely monitoring our students all of the time.
“Outside of school and beyond the school gates that's what really concerns us - the student who isn't getting the support might take something which will really cause them harm.”
Asked if he was shocked Spice is being found in vapes seized from schools he said: “I am not surprised that all possibilities are being experimented with.
“One of the key messages to students is it could be very harmless or it could be extremely harmful and you have no idea and nor do we.”
Mr Woodlock said he feels it is important to talk to children about the health implications of vaping and the dangers of obtaining illegal vapes and what they may contain.
He warned that it could lead to criminal behaviours because of the need to access vapes in an illegal way.
He added: “Vaping is a gateway and we need to ensure there's very strong legislation to ensure that stops.
“I think there is no point in sitting back and waiting for someone to get really hurt.
“We are aware of this so it's incumbent on us to do something about it and we need to make sure it's very publicly done and the politicians respond in kind as they've promised.”
A government spokesperson said: “We are banning vapes from being branded and advertised to appeal to children, including restricting their packaging, flavours and display.
“In addition, last year the government launched an illicit vapes enforcement squad to crack down on illegal sellers and undertake testing of products”.
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