‘Zombie drug’ claims first Scots life

THE ‘zombie drug’ spice is believed to have caused its first death in Scotland.

Shortly before the death last week of a 46-year-old inmate at high-security Shotts Prison, Lanarkshire, he had said he had tried the synthetic cannabis drug for the first time.

The drug, which reduces users to a catatonic state, is already ravaging large parts of England, and police have now admitted it is making inroads into Scotland. A definitive cause of death will not be established until the results of toxicology tests on the Glasgow man, who was in prison for armed robbery. He died after falling ill in his cell last Saturday.

He reportedly admitted to staff that he had smoked spice, telling them it was the first time he had tried it. His condition deteriorated rapidly.

Medical staff resuscitated him twice before he was taken to Wishaw General hospital, where he died on Tuesday. A prison source said: ‘Increasing numbers of prisoners are being taken to hospital because of spice and other so-called legal highs. It’s a worry for staff as it turns users into unhinged zombies who are impossible to predict.

‘We’ve heard worrying reports of some prisoners taking it and being so out of it, they try to run through walls.’

A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service confirmed the inmate’s death is believed to be drug-related.

He said: ‘Police Scotland have been advised and the matter will be reported to the procurator fiscal.’