This is the grim sight of ‘catatonic’ drug users haunting a city centre as a new super-strong strain of Spice hits the streets.
Footage filmed in Manchester shows users lying face down on the pavement, seemingly oblivious to passers-by and the freezing cold temperatures.
It comes after a suspected heroin addict collapsed yards from Deansgate shopping centre on Thursday.
Footage filmed in Manchester shows users lying face down on the pavement, seemingly oblivious to passers-by and the freezing cold temperatures
Spice is making people so ill that charity workers and police believe there could be a new, stronger, strain – possibly laced with heroin.
Its effects are so potent it has been dubbed ‘Annihilation’.
Stronger than cannabis – including skunk – Spice use can induce an intense hallucinatory trip.
It can also leave users comatose and requiring urgent medical treatment.
Julie Boyle, support worker for homeless youth charity Lifeshare, said: ‘We’ve noticed there appears to be a new strain of spice being smoked in the city centre and it’s been rumoured that it contains heroin.
‘We are seeing people collapsed, rigid. We had people who were catatonic earlier this year but it seems to be coming back again – people can’t talk, can’t move.
‘I’m massively concerned, and this is just my clients, not to mention all the other people out on the streets. It’s awful.’
She says work is needed to find out why people feel the need to be so far away from their own realities.
Spice is making people so ill that charity workers and police believe there could be a new, stronger, strain – possibly laced with heroin. Pictured: A suspect user in Manchester
‘What is going on in the background? How have they ended up in a state of mind where they don’t want to be aware of what’s going on?’, she added.
Louise, 40, who has been homeless for five months, said users were again calling spice Annihilation.
This was a name coined years ago when it was still classed as a legal high.
She said: ‘It’s bad at the moment, people are standing in the middle of the street, talking to themselves, it’s like they can’t move.’
Another rough sleeper said: ‘Annihilation is back but it’s five times stronger.’
Louise, 40, who has been homeless for five months, said users were again calling spice Annihilation because it has such a negative effect on users like this man
Meanwhile, Hendrix Lancaster of charity Coffee4Craig says she sees every day the impact Spice is having on all walks of society.
She said: ‘One gentleman who was just a drinker, no narcotics, picked up a cigarette butt from the floor thinking it was a roll-up.
‘He smoked it and now he’s living in a care home, in a vegetative state. He can’t speak, he can’t feed himself. He’s lucky he’s got a supportive girlfriend.’
She explained that different strains of Spice are changing how people react.
‘It changes on a weekly basis depending on the chemical components,’ she said.
‘It’s a huge problem and it’s not only the homeless population. It’s a huge problem to every single sector of the population.
Meanwhile, Hendrix Lancaster of charity Coffee4Craig says she sees every day the impact Spice is having on all walks of society
‘It’s just more noticeable on the streets because they have nowhere to go to use it. It’s being used by 13 and 14-year-olds at school, by people in hostels, and when it’s stronger it puts more people at risk.’
Hendrix says the solution lies in more specific detox programmes for psychoactive substances, more shelters for those dealing with Spice and better mental health support.
She said: ‘People need a roof over their head to then get support. But it’s about research and education at the moment – working out exactly what it is we are dealing with.
‘The problem has never really gone away – it’s just moved back into the city centre for Christmas.’
Hendrix says the solution lies in more specific detox programmes for psychoactive substances. Pictured: A suspected user in Manchester
A Manchester City Council spokesman said: ‘Spice use is a complex and challenging issue but we are working determinedly with Greater Manchester Police and health and voluntary sector colleagues to tackle it.
‘We have supported the police who have taken strong action to tackle dealers and we have backed work to develop better outreach services for current and potential users.
‘We have also worked with health partners and other professionals to keep improving the information available to them about to treat and help people with Spice-related problems.
‘But while there are vulnerable people with substance misuse issues and evil dealers willing to prey on them to take their money it is going to be very difficult.
‘That is why our collective focus is on reducing the number of vulnerable people on the streets, both through prevention and through providing accommodation and support to help rough sleepers to move their lives forwards.’