Five teenagers in London were hospitalised recently after smoking vapes containing the drug known as spice. This incident is only the latest in what appears to be a growing problem in the UK with unregulated vape liquids, especially those marketed as containing THC or cannabis.

Spice is a synthetic drug which originally came onto the recreational drugs market to mimic the effects of cannabis. But unlike cannabis, spice is far more dangerous due to its potency and the way it exerts its effects on the brain and body. It has even been nicknamed the “zombie drug” because of the debilitating effects it can have – causing psychosis, loss of movement, vomiting or diarrhoea and even sometimes seizures.

This is why it’s so important for users to think carefully about what vape products they use.

First described in 2008, spice is not a single compound but the name given to a diverse group of drugs called synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (or SCRAs). While these lab-made drugs are designed to mimic the effects of cannabis, they tend to be far more unpredictable and harmful.

There’s currently no data on how these drugs are manufactured in clandestine laboratories thought to be located in China and........

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