School-aged children have been able to access drug-laced vape products with disturbing ease through dealers found on popular social media platforms like Snapchat, according to a BBC report.
Experts have found that the vape products often contained so-called "spice," a little-understood synthetic cannabis product that can cause a host of health problems, including severe withdrawals, according to the BBC.
"It's not a good thing to take because you get too addicted to it, and you feel like you're physically dying," a 15-year-old girl identified by the pseudonym Ella told the BBC. Ella said she began vaping spice when she was just 12 years old.
What's happening?
A new study by researchers at the University of Bath found that out of nearly 2,000 vape products tested, nearly 13% contained synthetic cannabinoids. The researchers pulled the samples from 114 different secondary schools across England.
"The use of synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) in e-cigarettes represents a significant public health threat to young people," the study's authors wrote.
The study built upon previous research that had "established a high prevalence of SCs in e-cigarettes seized from English schools and suggested that many of these were sourced through social media."
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The study revealed that synthetic cannabinoids, or spice, were by far most likely to be found in refillable devices, 21.1% of which tested positive, and unlabelled bottles of vape "juice," a startling 96.3% of which contained the dangerous chemical compounds.
The BBC report added anecdotal evidence that supported the study's findings while detailing the human toll that spice can take on young people and their families.
The mother of Ella's friend Sophie, also a pseudonym, became deeply concerned after noticing disturbing changes in her daughter's behavior.
"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," Sophie's mom told the BBC.
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Majorly 😥 Equally concerning were the serious withdrawal symptoms Ella experienced when her family started forcing her to stay at home, where she could not access the drug.
"Your heart would start slowing down, then get really fast," Ella described to the BBC. "Then you just sleep and your stomach hurts all the time and you can't eat."
After spice use left Ella hospitalized overnight, her mother had a serious talk with her.
"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,'" Ella's mom told the BBC.
Why do tainted vape products matter?
The prevalence of spice in U.K. vape products was just one example of drug-laced vapes becoming increasingly prevalent around the world.
Singapore recently announced harsher punishments, including prison time and caning, for those found to be selling or using so-called "Kpods," slang for vape products containing the anesthetic etomidate, which has effects similar to ketamine.
The prevalence of drug-laced vapes around the world highlighted that users often do not know what potentially dangerous substances their vape products might contain.
Further, health officials have warned that all vapes and e-cigarettes, including those containing nicotine, pose a serious health risk, particularly to young people, pregnant women, and their fetuses.
"Aerosol from e-cigarettes can also contain harmful and potentially harmful substances," warned the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "These include cancer-causing chemicals and tiny particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs."
On top of the health risks, vape products also cause significant harm to the environment. The production of vaping devices, which often include lithium-ion batteries, produces large amounts of air and water pollution, according to a 2023 study.
Vaping devices also can contain a number of hazardous substances, from carcinogenic fire-retardant chemicals to toxic heavy metals like mercury and lead, the study found. When vapes are discarded, these dangerous materials can find their way into the soil and water supplies, endangering the health of humans, wildlife, and plants.
What's being done about tainted vape products?
While few countries will be willing to institute punishments as harsh as the famously anti-drug Singapore, health experts and drug-enforcement officials around the world have been paying increased attention to the problem of tainted vape products.
By conducting research to better understand the scope of the problem and engaging in public education campaigns, officials hope to increase awareness about the dangers that vape products, both those laced with illegal drugs and those containing nicotine, pose to human health, particularly among young people.
"This stuff's dangerous … for adults and it's highly dangerous for children," Sophie's mom told the BBC.
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