PRISON NURSE KNOCKED OUT BY ZOMBIE DRUG
Lethal Spice fumes land female worker and male guard in hospital
A PRISON nurse has collapsed after inhaling second-hand smoke from lethal drug Spice.
She had answered a call for help from a drugged-up inmate but passed out when the cell door was opened. A male guard who
came to her aid was
also knocked out after breathing in noxious fumes from the potentially lethal synthetic marijuana, which is flooding Scotland’s jails.
The staff, in the Hermiston wing of HMP Edinburgh, were rushed to the city’s Royal Infirmary but there is no treatment for the adverse effects of Spice. It’s understood they were kept in overnight and released from hospital the next day.
Spice can cause uncontrollable tremors, nausea, vomiting, and respiratory failure and is potentially deadly the first time it is inhaled.
The workers are the latest victims in a growing number of prison staff to become casualties of the lethal “zombie” drug sweeping Scottish jails.
Last night the Royal College of Nursing Scotland said that it was “completely unacceptable” the nurse had collapsed through exposure to Spice.
RCN Scotland director Theresa Fyffe added: “It’s a major concern that nurses, who are trying to treat and care for people who are sick or injured, are having their own health affected.
“There needs to be clear policies in place to make sure all staff are kept safe from harm in their working environment and the Scottish Prison Service must take steps to ensure this cannot happen again.”
In August, the Record revealed nine warders from Addiewell prison in West Lothian were taken to hospital after inhaling secondhand smoke from Spice.
But a worker at the maximum security facility has claimed over a dozen more staff had to attend A&E after breathing in prisoners’ Spice at Addiewell.
Prison sources say staff are being put under increasing strain from the flood of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), including Spice, into jails such as HMP Edinburgh.
Most halls in HMP Edinburgh, which holds 900 prisoners, run at least one staff member down each day through sickness.
One source said: “Spice is making the jail even more violent and stressful. We have had instances when staff have been walking with a prisoner who has then gone to the toilet and smoked Spice and they come out either like a zombie or violent. The drug makes them incredibly difficult to manage.
“Staff drop like flies if they inhale the drug and they are worried about how it could affect them long term. The situation is heading out of control and some staff just don’t want to be in the job any more.”
The drug can lead to an increased heart rate, hallucinations, paranoia, anxiety and aggression but the long-term effects are still unknown.
Staff at HMP Edinburgh are also under increasing strain from NPS addicts who have moved up from Young Offenders Institute Polmont. It is Scotland’s national holding facility for male young offenders aged between 16 to 21 but they are bringing their addictions with them when they continue their sentences in adult jails.
A source at HMP Edinburgh said: “When these young guys try to withdraw from the drug, it’s horrendous. We have seen them talking to themselves, punching walls and screaming for help because they imagine something is inside their cell. It is horrible.”
Spice has various names, including K2, and is more than 100 times stronger than marijuana, varying wildly in potency because of inconsistencies in the way it is made.
NPS are now the drugs of choice in jails because they are easier to bring in than most as they’re believed to be undetectable by sniffer dogs and drug tests.
NPS, like Spice, have been linked to deaths in the UK and abroad and were on a list of legal highs outlawed last year.
Over 100 NPS drugs are introduced to the market each year, which make them a challenge to study, classify and tackle medically.
Scientists have warned a new second generation of even stronger NPS is filtering into the market.
A survey found 11 per cent of inmates in Scotland’s prisons admitted using NPS in prison, an increase from eight per cent in 2013, although exact numbers of users