‘Zombie’ fears as new ‘legal high’ strains turn people into ‘corpses’
A disturbing video appears to show how psychoactive drugs like Spice are turning people into ‘zombies’. Oliver Milne reports on a growing problem...
DISTURBING footage which appears to show Cardiff’s problems with “legal highs” like Spice and Black Mamba has emerged.
The video shows a man in St Mary Street in the city centre doubled over and swaying.
The unidentified man’s upper half hangs limply as if frozen as his legs shake in the middle of the busy citycentre street.
It was taken on Wednesday by a concerned bystander and sent to our website WalesOnline.
It is not known whether the man was definitely under the influence of synthetic cannabis brands like Black Mamba and Spice – but this effect has been noticed in users across the UK as the popularity of the cheap highs grows.
In Wrexham, one woman has previously opened up on her addiction to the lethal synthetic cannabis which led to her being filmed in a zombie-like state.
And in Cardiff, shop owners say they see people turned into “zombies” by the drugs on a daily basis.
As part of an investigation, we spoke to a drugs charity, users, a dealer and city shops about Cardiff’s major problem with Spice.
Drugs charities say the highly unpredictable drug is attractive to young, vulnerable people who are at risk of exploitation, contracting diseases like HIV or even dying.
One user told us the attraction for users was that “you lose your grip on reality”.
And a dealer told us he had no shame, claiming users would get their hands on it anyway.
Speaking anonymously for fear of being targeted for sharing their concerns, traders told us of the daily drug market they see outside their shops in St Mary Street.
One of the business owners said it was driving people away from their shop.
He said: “This is a daily occurrence. From early in the morning until late at night you see people dealing and buying drugs.
“They smoke them and become zombies, and make the area seem dirty and unfriendly.
“When they recover they start begging – you can see people start to walk faster and faster down the street.”
Spice is a general name for a group of drugs classed as “synthetic cannabinoids” and first surfaced as a problem two or three years ago.
Made up of a range of amphetamines and other laboratory-created chemicals that vary wildly from batch to batch, pre-ban it was being sold either over the counter or online under a variety of brand names that made no bones about their purpose: Annihilation, GoCaine.
They are cheap, selling for as little as £5 a gram and are popular among vulnerable youngsters, often teenage runaways or those not long out of care and at risk from exploitation.
Across Wales, towns and cities are facing a growing problem with the drug.
Wrexham’s bus station has become notorious after pictures surfaced showing what appeared to be drug users in trance-like states.
One of those users photographed, Samantha, 35, described her battle with the drug.
She said: “I’ve blacked out on it, gone unconscious on the floor, woken up and thought, ‘What am I doing here?’ That’s a frightening thought, that is, but it doesn’t stop me from taking it.
“My body is so used to it now I find it hard myself to say no to taking it because my body needs it. I’m ashamed but nothing stops me, even though I have a 10-year-old son.”
In Cardiff, business owners said use of the drugs was rife.
One business owner said: “You see the packets once they leave – Spice or Black Mamba or whatever other garbage they are smoking.
“They’ll turn up and use and then just sit, slumped into a bench or open shop front.”
A third shopkeeper couldn’t understand why authorities hadn’t done more to solve the problem: “It’s gotten worse since the Louis [restaurant] closed – it’s meant that they have a shop front to sit in and use.
“There has to be something that can be done to help these people – by the council or someone. It would help us and them.”
Spice user Hugh Davies, 37, has said that the city centre still has a thriving marketplace for the drug, despite it being banned in May of last year.
“It’s gotten a little more difficult, you can’t just walk into a shop and get it anymore but it is still everywhere,” he said.
Hugh – who has been using Spice for the last five years – started using the drug as an alternative to cannabis.
“I’d taken junk in the 90s but I’d been clean except for weed.
“But Spice isn’t like that, it took over my life, it’s like heroin like that – you just lose your grip on reality.”
David Jones, 23, is also a regular user of the former legal highs.
He says that he could get them in ten minutes anywhere in the city centre.
“In Cardiff it’s just as easy as it was to get Mamba or Spice, it’s just become a little bit more expensive.
“I hadn’t really taken drugs before this but Spice has me gripped hard, it’s given me nightmares, made me wet myself in the street and made me look like a corpse, but I can’t shake it.”
A dealer – who shared his insights into his criminal world anonymously – said getting hold of the drugs is becoming more difficult but that the users are hooked so they’ll pay whatever it costs.
“Since they banned it you have had to get clever, but you can still sell it on the street or online,” he said.
“For these people it is all they want in life and it is easier for me to get hold of than pills or anything else
“So sometimes I stand in Adamsdown or the city centre and I can make £300 in an hour.”
Asked about the effect his dealing had on the users or the city, he was unrepentant.
“Look, they are going to get it, or drunk or whatever.
“I sell them Spice or someone else sells them heroin or tranquillisers or they just get drunk.
“So long as that is true, why shouldn’t I make some money from it?”
Drug awareness charity Frank warns that Spice can make it difficult for users to co-ordinate their movements or focus – which is why users can appear to have just slumped standing up.
It said: “Mood and perception can change and concentration and coordination may become difficult.
“Synthetic cannabinoids, possibly because of their potency, are more likely to be associated with hallucinations than natural cannabis.”
The charity also warns that because the chemical composition that makes up the drugs is constantly changing the effects are difficult for people to judge.
“We know that there have been a number of deaths that have been associated with the use of synthetic cannabinoids, either on their own or with other substances,” it said.
“This means it’s easier to use too much and experience unpleasant and harmful effects.”
It warns that users experiencing extreme episodes could suffer psychotic episodes that last up to several weeks.
Users who are also on anti-depressants are in particular danger, Frank warns.
Mixing Spice with other drugs could “stimulate serotonin activity in the brain, which can lead to serotonin syndrome, causing high fever, rapid pulse, sweating, agitation, confusion, convulsions, organ failure, coma and even death”.
South Wales Police urged anyone seeing issues like this to contact them.
Chief Inspector Jacqueline Johnson said: “It is vital for the current and future prosperity of Cardiff’s city centre that all criminal activities or acts of anti-social behaviour are pursued and dealt with.
“Anybody who experiences the illeffects of such behaviour is urged to contact the police.
“A dedicated team of police officers and PCSOs regularly patrol all corners of the city centre and have a range of measures available to them to deal robustly with those who are involved in this type of behaviour.
“These aim to ensure law-abiding visitors, business owners and workers are not adversely affected by the issue.
“There is work ongoing with statutory partners and other support agencies which is focusing on creating lasting solutions to issues such as substance misuse and homelessness on the city’s streets.”
Some names have been changed at the request of the interviewees.