TEENAGE vapers could be unwittingly smoking street drug spice, researchers have warned.
A test of nearly 600 vapes confiscated in English schools found 16.6 per cent of them contained the illegal narcotic.
The synthetic drug has a range of dangerous side effects for users, including cardiac arrest.
And it is worryingly common, with 74 per cent of the 38 schools in the study having at least one spice-spiked e-cig.
It is believed spice has been added to vapes sold as containing cannabis oil to cut costs.
Study leader Professor Chris Pudney, of the University of Bath, warned: “We know children can have cardiac arrests.
“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 warned parents that his findings were not “a niche, one-off occurrence that happens in a school far away from you” but something common.
Prof Pudney is now urging people to talk with children about the risks faced by spice and vaping, as well as the Government to prioritise the issue on a national level.
Schools that believe they have problems with spice-spiked vapes should come forward for testing, he said.
VAPING has been touted as an effective tool to help people quit smoking.
Though vaping is substantially less harmful than smoking, the habit isn’t completely harmless and comes with its own set of risks.
The NHS only recommends it for adult smokers, to support quitting smoking.
GP and author Dr Philippa Kaye explained to The Sun that the differences between vaping and smoking – and whether one is better than the other – is “complicated”.
“In a nutshell, vaping is better than smoking, but breathing air is better than vaping at all.”
Vaping exposes users to far fewer toxins – and at lower levels – than smoking cigarettes.
Switching to vaping significantly reduces your exposure to toxins that can cause cancer, lung disease, and diseases of the heart and circulation like heart attack and stroke.
These diseases are not caused by nicotine, which is relatively harmless to health. But research has still linked vaping to a higher risk of failure and lung disease.
Health risks of cigarettes
Health risks of vaping
Read more on how vaping can affect your health here.
Sources: NHS, CDC
