‘I began vaping at 14 – I didn’t know it was laced with zombie drug Spice’

‘I began vaping at 14 – I didn’t know it was laced with zombie drug Spice’ Maddy Smith Published December 2, 2025 7:00am Share this article via whatsappShare this article via xCopy the link to this article.Link is copiedShare this article via facebook Comment now Comments Oscar started vaping with cannabis oil after the death of his aunt (Picture: Getty Images)

Oscar* wasn’t a stranger to vaping. Like many of his friends, the 14-year-old would often sneak the odd nicotine hit in when his parents weren’t around. However, when the secondary student’s aunt died two years ago, the teen decided to turn to cannabis oil vapes to cope with his grief. 

He discovered the vapes, which contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound in cannabis, after spotting one being passed around his friends and noticed that it made them seem ‘happy and giggly’ – something the schoolboy was desperate to feel again. 

‘I thought if everyone else is doing it it can’t be that bad, so I tried it. It wasn’t  to get high though, it was to block out the dark thoughts I’d get at night. I was really close to my auntie and I didn’t want to be in the world without her – but I also didn’t want to die,’ the teenager tells Metro. 

What Oscar and his friends didn’t know was that the vapes, actually contained ‘Spice’, a powerful, unpredictable and highly-addictive synthetic cannabinoid, known as the zombie drug. 

Considerably cheaper to produce than natural THC, Spice mimics similar effects to cannabis. However, as it often consists of unregulated mixes, it can trigger a plethora of side effects, such as hallucinations, depression, cardiac issues and suicidal thoughts. For some, it can even be fatal. 

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The class B drug is commonly used in prisons and associated with half of non-natural deaths in UK jails. However, on the outside it’s easily available to purchase in e-liquid bottles from local dealers or online for as little as £10, and then decanted into a normal vape. 

‘It felt like I wasn’t here’

Alarmingly, illicit or counterfeit vaping products are on the rise – especially among young people, according to Jon Findlay, National Harm Reduction Lead for drug rehabilitation charity Waythrough.

Spice mimics similar effects to cannabis (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

‘Spice and other synthetic cannabinoids are unpredictable because the chemicals they are made from are varied,’ he tells Metro. ‘And so, the active ingredient and how your body responds to each can be different depending on the batch.’

Oscar adds: ‘There’s no taste and no smell. To the untrained eye it looks like you’re smoking a normal e-cigarette. When I unknowingly tried [a Spice-laced vape], the effects were like I was living in VR.

‘Everything around me lit up. If I focused on an object, everything around it would blur. It felt literally like I wasn’t really here,’ he recalls. I could tell it was a completely different high as it felt 100 times worse than THC.

‘That’s how my addiction started – the effects only lasted around half an hour, so you use it more often.’  

The teen’s family soon noticed a change in Oscar’s demeanour, becoming distant and reclusive. ‘I used to be athletic with loads of energy,’ he explains. ‘But when I smoked, I’d go straight to my room and wouldn’t talk to anyone. I didn’t see my family.’  

After several weeks, Oscar’s concerned parents questioned his withdrawn behaviour and the schoolboy eventually confessed what he’d been doing. Fearing for him, his mum and dad reached out to his school, who directed the teenager to Waythrough’s support services, and confirmed that he had uwittingly been smoking Spice.

A deadly childhood epidemic

Shockingly, Oscar’s experience is far from an isolated case with children across the UK doing the same, in the belief that they are experimenting with a ‘safer’ drug.

13% of vapes gathered from 114 schools across England were said to have contained Spice (Credits: Getty Images)

Last year, researchers from the University of Bath analysed nearly 2,000 e-cigarettes and e-liquids from 114 schools across seven regions in England, and discovered that only 1% of the confiscated vapes and e-liquids actually contained THC, while 13% contained Spice. This figure spiked to 25% in London and Lancashire.  

Professor Chris Pudney, from the University’s Department of Life Sciences, conducted the research using the world’s first portable device that instantly detects synthetic drugs and says the side effects of Spice are hugely concerning.

‘We know children can have cardiac arrests when they smoke it, and I believe some have come quite close to death,’ he tells Metro. ‘Headteachers are telling me pupils are collapsing in the halls and ending up with long stays in intensive care.’ 

Oscar says he has also witnessed ‘negative’ experiences among his peers. ‘Last year in town, this lass in the year below me had just a couple of [drags] of someone’s vape. She passed and started having a fit. Another boy collapsed in the school toilets all day. No one knew where he was. When he was finally found, the teachers saw the vape next to him on the floor, but thought nothing of it.’

Easy access

The University of Bath’s report discovered a ‘widespread and overt market’ of Spice-laced vapes on social media sites. Over a three-month period Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts selling ‘THC’ were tracked – and a staggering 68% of THC-labelled TikTok products were found to contain Spice, while 12% of Facebook products contained the synthetic drug.  

Oscar found it really hard to breaking his addiction to Spice vapes (Picture: Getty Images)

‘A simple search of social media platforms brings up hundreds of accounts selling this material, making them incredibly easy for young people to find’, says Professor Pudney. 

The problem is, gruelling withdrawals make Spice addiction a difficult cycle to break for – often sparking ‘severe anxiety, insomnia, nausea, sweating, and intense cravings’, Jon explains.

Oscar remembers that when he tried to stop using it he felt ‘terrible’ for a whole week – unable to break his addiction, he would often return to the drug. 

‘I didn’t want to eat, leave the house, shower – or do anything. That’s why I kept going back to it. I’d use it for two months, then stop for a month or so, and I’d go back to it,’ he recalls.’This cycle repeated for about two years until I just stuck out the [withdrawal symptoms] – it just took time.’ 

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The teen acknowledges that it’s only thanks to support from Waythrough’s rehabilitation services – which offers talking therapies for young people – that he was finally able to break the cycle when he was 16.

In a bid to tackle the issue, the charity’s recent campaign in collaboration with Barnsley Recovery Steps and Barnsley Council, aims to turn the tide on adulterated vape use, sharing vital information on the associated dangers. 

For example, to protect young people from harm, Jon advises not to share vapes, and to always purchase legitimate vapes from high street shops, which must comply with stricter legislation than online sellers. 

Closing the gap in drug education, is also key to preventing young people from smoking vapes in the first instance, insists Oscar. ‘At school, there were no real lessons about drugs. That education, taught from Year 7, would really help, as younger years are influenced by their older peers, and no one has any of this knowledge,’ he adds. 

Meanwhile, last month, the government launched a new campaign to alert young people to the dangers of adulterated THC vape use, as drug poisonings hit the highest levels on record. A pledge to invest £310 million into drug treatment services hopes to drive change. 

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Currently, under the Online Safety Act, social media sites must assess potential risk of sale and promotion of illegal substances. Non-compliance can result in Ofcom fines of up to £18 million, or 10% of an organisation’s global annual revenue, whichever is greater. 

However Jon admits that he feels it’s ‘almost impossible to police the internet in terms of sale of goods.’  In a multi-million pound industry, producers can easily make and distribute convincing counterfeit products. 

‘But, we can balance the equation a bit more,’ he adds. ‘We need to be present in the same online communities, giving honest and factual advice to young people around drug use, so that people are armed with all the facts to keep them as safe as possible, and can make informed choices around managing risk.’ 

A TikTok spokesperson told Metro that the platform’s rules prohibit the promotion or sale of vaping products, e-cigarettes, tobacco products and illegal drugs. The company said its latest Community Guidelines Enforcement Report shows that between April and June 2025, 99.6% of videos removed for violating its drugs, controlled substances, alcohol and tobacco policies were taken down proactively before any user reported them. 

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