Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SAVE US FROM THIS ZOMBIE DRUG HELL
Swoop on suburban targets Plea to PM to crack down on spice plague
THERESA May has been told she must take “decisive action” to tackle Britain’s spice drug epidemic.
Labour’s Dan Jarvis urged the Prime Minister to stop “shrugging off ” the crisis as an issue for the North.
The Sheffield Mayor’s plea follows a Mirror probe revealing thousands of people POLICE batter down a front door on a suburban housing estate in an early-morning drugs raid.
A machete and two rifles were seized in Newton Aycliffe, Co Durham. One local said: “Drugs get everywhere.”
The Mirror joined Operation across the country are feared to be hooked on the zombie drug.
He wrote to the PM in the wake of our reports, and urged Sledgehammer, involving 80 officers, in swoops at seven addresses. These were linked to actions in Lancashire, Cleveland and West Yorkshire.
Seven men and one woman were arrested on suspicion of supplying Class A and B drugs.
Durham Police said the raids were a “huge success”. to consider reclassifying spice from Class B to A.
Yesterday we uncovered how many users live on the streets, where they can get the former legal high for as little as £5 a bag.
Mr Jarvis said: “Spice is a scourge on our towns and cities. This cheap and highly addictive drug ruins lives and is a blight on communities.
“The unpleasant and sometimes frightening scenes being witnessed on our streets as a direct result of spice dealing and use are simply unacceptable and must not be tolerated.”
He said tackling the crisis required “Government taking decisive action on Spice now, rather than shrugging this off as just a problem for the North”.
And Mr Jarvis warned that while users are being helped in Doncaster, more must be done to “prevent just shifting the proher blem”. He added: “This means exploring legislation around spice, which could mean reclassifying it as a Class A drug.”
We also told yesterday how emergency services are struggling to cope with increased use of spice, also said to be rife in prisons, with demands for more funding to tackle its spread.
The Home Office has insisted it is aware of the dangers of spice. A spokesman said: “That is why we acted to control these substances as Class B drugs.”