A frightening pack of ‘Spice zombies’ were left paralysed in the middle of a busy shopping centre.
Shocking video footage shows four homeless men slumped outside shop fronts in Cardiff after apparently taking the synthetic drug spice.
Worried passers-by are seen trying to help the men who were left immobilised and unable to speak in the video taken on Wednesday afternoon.
Shocking video footage shows four homeless men slumped outside shopfronts in Cardiff after apparently taking the synthetic drug spice
MJ Reed, 38, filmed the mobile phone footage after coming across the sorry scene along St Mary Street in the Welsh capital
MJ Reed, 38, filmed the mobile phone footage after coming across the people along St Mary Street in the Welsh capital.
He’s heard saying in the video: ‘This is the nation that we’re living in now. It’s turning people into zombies and it’s not good. Don’t take spice.’
Later Mr Reed said: ‘They couldn’t control their own bodies.
‘One was collapsing on the street. I had to hold him up and I was trying to get him to sit down. He was clearly on something.’
Nick Shepley, a drugs and alcohol psychotherapist, said it appeared as though the group had taken a dangerous mix of the so-called legal high spice.
He said: ‘Spice is a very big problem among Cardiff’s homeless.
He’s heard saying in the video: ‘This is the nation that we’re living in now. It’s turning people into zombies and it’s not good. Don’t take spice’
Nick Shepley, a drugs and alcohol psychotherapist, said spice is a very big problem among Cardiff’s homeless
‘The reality is that people take drugs and drink alcohol because they are trying to void the unpleasant realities of their lives and the place they’re in.’
South Wales Police said the community had to help police identify dealers of the drug in order to end the ‘misery’ it put users through.
Superintendent Stephen Jones said: ‘When this type of suffering is exposed in this very public way it is shocking for people to see and experience.
‘These individuals will have been given the help they need by health workers, and if alcohol or drugs are a factor, they will be signposted to avenues of support.
‘It is vital the community work with us to make a stand against the drug dealers who impose this misery on others.’
Spice was previously known as a legal high before it was banned last year following a surge in its use.
Its use in prisons has also hit epidemic levels and is referred to as ‘bird killer’, as it allows inmates to ‘kill’ time spent in jail in a toxic blur.