SPICE is “back with a vengeance” in Manchester where vulnerable addicts are left zombified in the street, The Sun can reveal.
Seven years on from the city’s spice epidemic, a resurgence has taken place and the drug is once again wreaking havoc in the homeless community.
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Spice, otherwise known as synthetic cannabinoids, is a lab-made drug originally designed to replicate the effects of cannabis – but more harmful and unpredictable.
Raymond Keating is a former spice addict who has been on and off the streets for the last 14 years.
He said: “It’s f***ing horrible and it’s right in your face, it’s everywhere you just aren’t seeing zombies – they are the ones that can’t hack it, or the ones doing it for the first time.
“It’s come back, it’s definitely come back and it’s too strong and people are smoking it in pipes now instead of spliffs – it’s like having a full spliff worth of spice in one go.
“One of my mates died from it and he was lying in the street for six hours and no one cared, no one did anything.”
Mr Keating, who was sat on High Street, continued: “The police should let it be legalised, when it was in the shops you could go to Oldham, Manchester, anywhere.
“It was legal to buy it and it wasn’t as strong – people are having fits from it now.
“It’s ‘angin, I used to do it but don’t anymore, I see it all the time though course I do – I’ve got friends that do it.
“People take the p*** out of me because I have had that addiction, but it’s no worse than smack or crack – it’s just cheaper.”
Mr Keating explained that he is now clean from spice, smack and crack, and just takes buprenorphine, which is prescribed to him by his doctor.
Anthony Barlow, who has been on the street for 10 years, said he has first-hand experience of just how devastating spice can be.
He went clean eight months ago as the paranoia – one of the drug’s many side effects – became too much.
Pitched up on Market Street, the 45-year-old said: “It’s back with a vengeance.
“I used to do it but I don’t anymore. It’s just evil, that’s why I stopped.
“I’ve seen good people turn to scumbags overnight. It’s not right and they are still on it.
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“I think it’s just the fact that all the badness that has been supressed in you is released – I get it though as it helps you sleep through the day and it helps you escape from your demons.”
The synthetic high can come in two forms.
The first is a concentrated liquid which can now be used in vapes.
The second, more commonly for Manchester, is a powdered chemical which is dissolved and sprayed onto a piece of paper or cannabis, which can then be smoked.
In just a short walk around the city centre, The Sun discovered one man down an alleyway by Piccadilly Gardens, stooped over a bike and not moving for around five minutes.
Another person, towards the bottom of Market Street, was seen slouched over a chair in a zombie-like state.
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A Big Issue salesman, who sits outside Marks and Spencer’s on Market Street, says he is frequently asked by drug dealers, “all young lads around 17 or 18”, if he wants to buy spice for as cheap as £5.
He said: “Piccadilly is the place where they hang about, around McDonald’s – a lot of my friends do it, it’s pretty rife now.”
Walking through Piccadilly Gardens, healthcare worker Carmel Smith tells The Sun how she encounters zombified people at work on a regular basis.
The 40-year-old said: “I work for the NHS in A&E so I see it a lot.
“I was just walking thinking what are they doing with Piccadilly Gardens, what are they going to do?
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“I’ve just come back from Krakow and their version of Piccadilly Gardens is beautiful and you could sit and enjoy it, but you don’t want to sit here.”
Despite a police presence in the area, spice is shifted easy enough with the drug dealers having friends alerting them of patrolling officers.
Along Market Street, which leads onto Piccadilly Gardens, 39-year-old Paul Owens frantically looks around and, seemingly too nervous to answer questions, grabs our reporter’s notepad and pen.
Mr Owens, who has been on the street for a year, wrote: “You see police every day and night at Piccadilly Gardens because that’s where the deals are made.
“I have been asked about spice and who sells it, but I do not touch it.”
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Meanwhile Vicky Tracey, a cleaner and carer waiting for the bus on Oldham Street, explained that she has not spotted someone on spice since 2017.
The 50-year-old said: “I’ve not come across it properly since the last time when it was really bad.
“It was a shame to see, it was really sad, it was awful – I hope it’s not coming to that.
“I wasn’t scared of them, it was scary to think that they might be dead, but you get that used to it you walk past it and you’re desensitised to it.”
Greater Manchester Police Detective Superintendent Neil Blackwood, who is leading a specialist operation in Piccadilly Gardens, said: “In September 2023 we deployed Operation Vulcan, a team of officers specialising in problem solving policing, to Piccadilly Gardens to target the criminality in the area, particularly drugs related issues.
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“To tackle the supply of drugs, we put undercover officers in the city centre.
“Last month, 24 individuals were arrested, with 19 charged, in connection with this operation.
“In the six months the undercover officers were deployed, we did not encounter any synthetic cannabis, also known as spice.
“We understand that news stories of this nature are concerning for residents, but I want to reassure you that we are working tirelessly to tackle and address the root causes of issues in the area, through covert operations, high visibility policing, and robust partnership work which broadens our powers, policies, and resources.
“We are working closely with drug experts and local charity organisations to ensure that drug users, or anyone affected by addiction, is supported and offered treatment plans and access to specialist services.
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“We continue to monitor the situation and we are constantly building on our intelligence picture of drugs in Piccadilly Gardens.
“However, the public or drug users can help us with this by reporting any concerns or information to us so that we can investigate any reports of the sale of synthetic cannabis.”