By ALICE CACHIA
HILDREN as young as 11 are being arrested for dealing the zombie-drug Spice.
Exclusive figures from police forces in England and Wales reveal that at least 155 people were arrested for dealing what are known as “new psychoactive substances” in 2017/18.
New psychoactive substances include things like Spice - a drug that used to be a legal high.
Producing, dealing, selling or supplying new psychoactive substances was criminalised in May 2016 following a spate of deaths and a rise in violent assaults.
The figures come from a Freedom of Information request sent to all police forces in England and Wales.
In total 25 police forces responded to the request but Durham, Lancashire and Dyfed-Powys each recorded zero arrests.
The Met Police provided figures for the 12 months of 2017, whereas all other police forces gave data for the financial year 2017/18.
The data shows that a child aged 11 was arrested by the Metropolitan Police for dealing the drug in 2017.
Children as young as 14 were also arrested by both Thames Valley Police and Leicestershire Police in 2017/18, the data revealed.
The youngest person arrested by Greater Manchester Police for dealing spice in 2017/18 was a child aged 16, while in both Nottinghamshire and Hampshire Police it was a 17 year old, and in Merseyside and Northumbria it was an 18 year old.
A 21 year old was the youngest person arrested by North Wales Police.
In some areas the youngest person arrested for dealing the drug was much older.
Bedfordshire, for example, saw the youngest person arrested aged 35.
The 159 people arrested for dealing the zombie drug in 2017/18 is actually down from 299 the previous year.
The figure excludes those arrested by the Met police because the force provided figures using a different time frame.
Niamh Eastwood, director of drugs charity Release, said: “The reasons young people get involved in drug dealing are complex, but it is often driven by poverty and lack of opportunities.
“Cuts to youth services across England and Wales means there are fewer safe spaces for young people to hang out, resulting in them congregating in public areas where they can be susceptible to getting involved in criminal activities.
“Rather than treating children involved with drug dealing as criminals, they should be viewed as ‘at risk’, and child protection protocols should be triggered by the authorities.
“The fact that we have children involved in the supply of synthetic cannabinoids is another indictment of the UK’s failed drug policy.
“This is why we must end the criminalisation of people who use drugs, including children, and explore legally regulated markets.”