A major new study of vapes seized from schools has found that more than 10% contain the synthetic drug spice – and Sky News can reveal the liquids are being openly advertised on social media.
Nearly 2,000 vape liquids from 114 secondary schools in England were taken by police and tested by the University of Bath. Some 13% contained spice.
The illegal vape liquids – often brightly coloured – are advertised on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram as THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis which is banned in the UK.
However, many are actually made up of spice – a drug that is far cheaper to produce.
The drug is “incredibly” strong and addictive, said Prof Chris Pudney, who led the study.
“For a young person that puts them in a very risky position of being coerced, or abused, or being drawn into further criminality through use of a drug like this,” he said.
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The findings follow a small sample tested last year by the university, which first uncovered that spice was inside vapes used by schoolchildren.
Using visual analysis, the university also looked at what percentage of vape liquid sold on social platforms was spice rather than THC.
Prof Pudney said there was a higher percentage of spice on platforms with a younger demographic: 67.5% on TikTok, 54.2% on Instagram and 12% on Facebook.
“The reason young people are being targeted with this drug is because it’s cheap,” he said. “It’s just so cheap and so easy to get hold of because there’s so much of it in society rolling around the place.”
He added that while a real THC cannabis vape costs around £60 in the US, where it is legal, spice costs around £5 to fill up a vape.
Spice vape forced into boy’s mouth
Kelly, not her real name, knows first-hand the impact illegal vape liquids can have.
Her teenage son collapsed after having a vape laced with spice forced into his mouth by bullies outside his school.
“He did say he was hallucinating. That he was in water, it felt like he was in water,” she said.
“I felt like he’d been violated – it’s had a massive effect on him since then. His anxiety has increased, he’s frightened to leave the house, he hasn’t been to school for over a year, it’s had a massive effect on him personally.”
She said parents of children vaping should keep a check on that they are using.
“Make sure that if they are vaping they know what is inside the vape,” she said. “Because I didn’t know anything about the liquid spice or the street name – I had to Google what it was.”
Drug charities say there have been a growing number of reports of schools seeing children collapsing after inhaling vapes with spice in.
“There’s a good amount of evidence that it is a new and emerging threat – we need to keep a close eye on,” says Fiona Spargo-Mabbs from the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation, a drug and alcohol education charity.
“We know there are increased hospitalisations from schools,” she added.
“It’s a real concern because not only is spice much more potent than a lot of young people will anticipate, they are so much more vulnerable in adolescence because they are at such a critical stage of development in their brains but also in their bodies.”
Call for dedicated enforcement programme
In response to our report TikTok said content promoting vapes and illegal drugs is not permitted, and it has removed accounts highlighted by Sky News.
Meta – which owns Facebook and Instagram – says buying and selling drugs on its platforms is “strictly prohibited” and that it has “robust measures” in place to detect and remove such content. It has also deleted the drug dealer accounts we found.
Telegram – a messaging platform often used to communicate with the drug dealers – told Sky News the sale of illicit substances is “explicitly forbidden” with millions of pieces of content removed each day.
Social media platforms have a legal duty to remove criminal content under the Online Safety Act 2023.
But the University of Bath said there is a clear failure by the platforms to act – and is calling on Ofcom to create a dedicated enforcement programme against online drug sales.
Ofcom told Sky News it is holding platforms to account.
“We’ve already launched investigations into 47 sites and apps, and expect to announce more in the coming months,” a spokesperson said.
“It’s also important this happens alongside effective action from law enforcement against individuals selling illegal drugs online.”
Additional reporting by Lauren Hardaway, producer
