Spice synthetic drug that turns users into 'living dead'Dead men and women were walking the streets of central Manchester this week. Some of them, their faces wan and eyes open, but filled with a terrible vacancy, stumble forward with arms out- stretched. Others stand stock- still like shop mannequins, seemingly unconscious but upright, or slumped forward, as commuters scurry past with their heads down. AD CAD & Project Management courses @ Andheri (E & W) Borivali Mira Road. For Architects, Interior Designers, Mechanical, Civil, Electrical Engineers, Project Managers.Visit Glamour.com for the latest new fashion trends, outfit ideas, celebrity style, designer news and runway looks. I’m often asked if we invest with Betterment, or if I would recommend them. I assume this is because of their generous affiliate marketing program for personal. There were still more I spotted comatose on pavements or slumped in doorways. One young man in a grey tracksuit lolled on the steps outside Mc. Donald’s, twitching and gibbering to himself. Dead men and women were walking the streets of central Manchester this week. Their zombie- like appearance was caused by a powerful new strain of the synthetic drug known as 'spice'Outside the Arndale Shopping Centre, I saw another youth passed out on his back, his arms and legs extended into the air as if rigor mortis had set in. These are the victims of Spice, a generic term for various mixtures of herbs and potent chemicals which, until last May, was openly on sale in Britain as a so- called ‘legal high’. Now, a powerful strain has emerged that produces a terrifying zombie- like effect in those who smoke it. It is estimated that up to 9. Manchester are using it, many of them hopelessly addicted. Drug experts are warning of a Spice epidemic that is spreading from the North- West, driving a wave of crime and casualties that the police and emergency services are struggling to cope with.‘[Spice] has the physically addictive qualities of heroin and the psychologically addictive qualities of crack,’ says Robert Ralphs, senior lecturer in criminology at the Manchester Metropolitan University and an expert on the drug. The crisis came to national attention this week following the publication of video footage, shot by an office worker in Manchester, showing people under its influence. Photographs published in the Mail, taken by a bus driver who was alarmed by what he was seeing along his route each day in Wrexham in North Wales, further underlined this developing threat. Drug experts are warning of a Spice epidemic that is spreading from the North- West, driving a wave of crime and casualties that the police and emergency services are struggling to cope with. It has led to calls for Spice to be made a Class A drug. ![]() I was, I admit, highly sceptical of the claims being made for Spice. I’m from Edinburgh, the heroin capital of Europe in the Eighties and setting for the film Trainspotting. I haven’t led a sheltered life and I believed I knew the worst that drugs could do. It seemed highly unlikely a drug first produced as a supposedly ‘safe’ synthetic cannabis alternative — something available as a legal high for years to British teenagers — could have morphed into a substance wreaking more destruction than heroin or crack cocaine, as some of the reports suggested. But what I have discovered is that there is nothing exaggerated about the effects of this highly addictive drug, as was evident within minutes of my arrival at Manchester Piccadilly Station this week. Around the city square and shopping area in Piccadilly Gardens, the ‘zombies’ with their sunken cheeks and ghostly white skin covered in sores are highly visible. ![]() I watched users on a bench packing their pipes with Spice. Within seconds of smoking the drug, they were catatonic. Carl, 5. 0, was mixing his fix — an odourless, crumbly, green mix — with tobacco to roll in a joint when I approached him, just 2. He became addicted some years ago after buying the drug at a shop selling legal highs.‘It’s awful to come off it — you rattle,’ he told me. I’ve tried to get off it, but it’s harder than gear [heroin].’ He inhaled on the joint. It looked like a cigarette and was odourless — one reason users feel no need to hide their habit. Now, a powerful strain has emerged that produces a terrifying zombie- like effect in those who smoke it ‘I smoke this because it’s better for me than injecting with needles — better for my health. I’m starting to feel woozy. I can feel all my problems going away.’The conversation was swiftly terminated: Carl decided he wanted to be alone. He stood up and moved down the street. I watched him go. Five minutes later, he had managed barely 1. Carl is a typical victim in that the roots of this problem go back to the manufacture of legal highs in the late Nineties. These were chemical compounds sold in attractive packaging and made in industrial quantities in China and India to beat UK drugs laws. They were not covered by legislation because the key chemicals they contained were unknown. Under names such as Black Mamba, K2 and Spice, they were sold as ‘harmless’ synthetic cannabis substitutes in legal high shops across Britain. After a series of deaths were linked to them, the government acted — belatedly in the view of many who had been warning of the dangers — to shut down these shops last May, when a new law was introduced banning all psychoactive substances said to impact mental health. A new strain of Spice leaves users paralysed as the effects of the drug take hold of their senses on the streets of Manchester. However, it was too late for those already addicted and so the demand for Spice remained. Dealers of traditional hard drugs such as ‘white’ and ‘brown’ (slang for cocaine and heroin) started selling Spice, which is far cheaper and less risky to make locally than to import hard drugs. The so- called Spice barons buy plant materials in bulk on the internet and spray them with synthetic chemicals which have potent psychoactive properties. Some dealers mix whole batches in their baths. Tests on a Spice sample obtained in Manchester this week indicated the leaves had been sprayed with 5. F- ADB, a synthetic chemical originally developed to mimic cannabis, but which is far more ‘efficient’. It has been linked to a number of deaths in the UK and abroad. According to some experts, one Spice joint is akin to smoking up to 1. No one can explain why the drug has taken hold so quickly or why in Manchester particularly. But price is a factor. So much is being produced that it’s half the price it was when sold as a ‘legal high’. At £5 a fix — a small plastic bag of Spice bearing an image of Bob Marley — will produce three joints and leave the user comatose for ten hours. Dealers of traditional hard drugs such as ‘white’ and ‘brown’ (slang for cocaine and heroin) started selling Spice (pictured), which is far cheaper and less risky to make locally than to import hard drugs Julie Boyle, who works for homeless charity Lifeshare at its drop- in centre, is a no- nonsense veteran of street life. Over the years she’s seen Manchester in the grip of heroin and cocaine. But she shudders at the effects of Spice. It’s horrible stuff — a proper epidemic,’ she told me. I’ve seen people frothing at the mouth and passing out. When some people take it, it’s like someone has pressed pause on the TV. They freeze into one position.‘In the city centre are people like the walking dead. You wouldn’t even know they were alive. They don’t know where they are. I have never seen anything like this.’Ms Boyle says that people can become addicted within three days. She agrees 9. 5 per cent of 3,2. Greater Manchester are on the drug. The consequences are far reaching. She told me about one youngster who claimed to be HIV positive after being given Spice.‘The individual passed out and woke to find they had been sexually assaulted, robbed and stabbed with a dirty needle,’ she said.‘Another young girl has been passed round and raped by some of the homeless community in return for drugs. One man went into cardiac arrest. He was resuscitated, and I saw him smoking Spice again three hours later.’Long- term side- effects range from nausea and tooth loss to heart and lung problems. Of greater concern are mental health issues Long- term side- effects range from nausea and tooth loss to heart and lung problems. Of greater concern are mental health issues. Yesterday, Lifeshare was training police officers from Wrexham facing their own Spice crisis. The impact on the over- stretched emergency services is dramatic: 2. Spice. In one 3. 0- minute spell, there were two incidents in the city centre and I saw ambulances arriving to deal with victims who had collapsed. Today's Stock Market News and Analysis. CLOSEXPlease confirm your selection. You have selected to change your default setting for the Quote Search. This will now be your default target page. Are you sure you want to change your settings?
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