'I feared I'd find her dead in bed' - teens harmed by spice-laced vapes

Dealers are using Snapchat to sell vape liquid laced with the dangerous synthetic drug spice to unwitting children as young as 13, a BBC investigation has found.

Our reporter, posing as a schoolgirl, bought four bottles through a dealer on the social media site that later tested positive for the so-called zombie drug.

Teenagers have described horrendous withdrawal symptoms after vaping it, while one parent said she feared finding her daughter dead in her bed.

A Snapchat spokesperson said using the site to buy and sell vapes or illegal drugs was strictly against rules and that it proactively shut down dealers' accounts.

While it is illegal for under 18s to vape in the UK, Ella, 15, started using one when she was 12.

Within months of buying standard vapes from shops, she moved to vapes she believed contained the illegal drug THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis that causes its mind-altering effects.

She said she and her friend Sophie, 14, became addicted, getting the vape liquid from a dealer who advertised it on Snapchat for £10 a bottle, or three for £20.

"This girl at school just said 'try this', and I tried it, and it got me high, so I kept buying it," Sophie said.

The BBC spoke to both girls and their mums - whose names have all been changed - at Ella's home on a newly built estate in Warwickshire.

"If we had money, we would buy [the drugs] but mostly it was other people buying it for us," she added.

They were sold in liquid form in vials, which could then be decanted into refillable vapes from shops.

However, testing later revealed the vape juice was laced with spice.

• Spice is a nickname for a lab-made drug containing one or more synthetic cannabinoids, that mimics the effects of cannabis (and its main active ingredient THC) and is illegal in the UK
• It is cheaper to produce than cannabis, but has much more potent effects
• It can cause serious side effects, including breathing problems, heart attacks, seizures and hallucinations
• The substance may appear as a powder, liquid, or be dissolved and sprayed on to paper or dried plant material

Source: NHS Inform

Both Ella and Sophie's mums, Sarah and Dawn, said they grew scared for their daughters as their behaviour became erratic.

Sarah said Ella was coming home in extreme moods, sometimes angry, sometimes very emotional.

"She didn't want to engage with anything we did as a family, she just wanted to be in her room," she said.

Dawn said Sophie started sneaking out in the early hours and she instantly noticed the change in her when she got home.

"She could hardly talk, she was walking funny, and eventually it got so bad that she would come in and just collapse on the sofa."

During the summer of 2024, at different times, both teenagers went missing overnight, and on one occasion it took 36 hours for them to be found.

Dawn did her best to keep Sophie at home and, unable to vape, she began to suffer horrific withdrawal symptoms.

Sophie described feeling sick, cold and shaky. "Your heart would start slowing down, then get really fast," she said. "Then you just sleep and your stomach hurts all the time and you can't eat."

Dawn said this went on for over a week and Sophie was so violently sick, it put her completely off.

Sarah said being hospitalised overnight was the wake-up call Ella needed to stop.

"I literally said [to her], 'I don't want to wake up in the morning, come to your bedroom and find you dead in your bed - or your sister finds you, or your brother'," she said.

The mums sent the girls' vapes off to Wedinos, the only national drug-checking service in the UK for members of the public.

As their mums had suspected, two tested positive for spice.

Prof Rick Lines is head of the Substance Misuse Programme at Public Health Wales, which is part of Wedinos.

He said, of over 300 vapes samples received by Wedinos last year, they found about 40% contained spice.

"We have real concerns about the risk of people consuming potentially much more potent or more toxic substances than they might be expecting from consuming a herbal cannabis-based product," he added.

Dawn was not surprised by the results, but feels upset her daughter was targeted.

"This stuff's dangerous... for adults and it's highly dangerous for children," she said.

"Adults who are making money out of this are absolute scum. They should be locked up with the key thrown away."

Our undercover reporter messaged Sophie and Ella's dealer on Snapchat, posing as a schoolgirl looking to buy THC.

He responded within minutes and shared a menu of different flavoured vape liquids, offering same-day delivery across Warwickshire and Birmingham for cash.

The reporter bought four bottles of THC vape liquid for £50, which all later tested positive for spice.

Sophia and Ella's experience mirrors the University of Bath's findings that drug-laced vapes are prevalent in schools and can be bought through adverts posted on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, with spice often marketed as THC.

"Spice is a drug we find endemic in UK prisons," said Prof Chris Pudney.

"I am shocked at how blatant the sale of these drugs is on social media and the wide availability, particularly targeting platforms used by young people."

His team looked at vaping in English secondary schools in seven police force areas over the past two academic years, including Lancashire, London and Greater Manchester.

Of 1,923 vapes and liquids seized by teachers and passed to police from a total of 114 schools, an average of 13% from each region contained spice.

In Lancashire, the substance was discovered in 58 out of 215 samples, equivalent to 27%.

Researchers say these platforms are failing in their legal duty under the Online Safety Act 2023 to protect users, particularly children.

Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, which were named in the report, told the BBC they proactively shut down dealers' accounts, blocked drug-related search terms and supported law enforcement.

A Snapchat spokesperson said they removed more than 2.4m drug-related posts and disabled 516,000 related accounts in 2024.

They told the BBC: "Using Snapchat to buy or sell vapes and illegal drugs is strictly against our rules.

"We use technologies to proactively find and shut down dealers' accounts, block search results for a wide range of drug-related terms and support law enforcement efforts."

Sarah said she reported her concerns to Warwickshire Police a year ago while her daughter was still vaping. She was told it was an ongoing investigation and her call was logged.

"I was gutted in a way, because obviously they were still getting it," she said. "There is so much going around and so many dealers selling it to children, I think it's impossible to catch them."

Warwickshire Police Supt Helen Waite said the force had received local reports of THC or spice-laced vapes being sold to young people, and was working with partners to gather evidence.

Both girls are no longer vaping illegal drugs. Ella said she had realised she wanted to change, as spice made her lose weight and confidence.

"It's not a good thing to take because you get too addicted to it and you feel like you're physically dying."