Drug dealers on Facebook and Instagram are openly selling deadly liquid Spice vapes
The vape oil drugs have boomed on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram due to the difficulty police have detecting the substances.
DEADLY liquid “Spice” vapes are being widely sold by drug dealers on social media, The Sun can reveal.
The vape oil drugs have boomed on social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram due to the difficulty police have detecting the substances.
They can be made odourless or fruit-flavoured which masks their potentially fatal potency and is an emerging crisis according to experts.
Our investigators found dealers selling the drugs containing psychoactive chemicals linked to a string of deaths in recent months.
They brazenly advertise on social media pages and typically under names such as “canna vapes” – meaning cannabis – or “THC oils”.
THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is the main, natural psychoactive substance in cannabis but can be more potent as an isolated chemical.
Dealers are flogging the vape liquids to Facebook and Instagram users before simply sending them by recorded delivery in the post.
We were able to buy three vape cartridges for between £55 and £60 each which can last drug users for weeks.
And while all three were sold as potent THC vapes we discovered two in fact contained deadly man-made Spice drug 5F-ADB which has been compared to heroin by experts.
MPs have now called for tougher measures to crack down on the sale of the drugs on social media after The Sun’s revelations.
Tory MP Johnny Mercer, of the Health and Social Care Committee, said authorities needed to take a “ruthless approach” to dealers and that our investigation showed “there is far more to do”.
And Lib Dem MP and home affairs spokesman Ed Davey said “social media platforms should cooperate with police to catch and prosecute those who manufacture, import or deal illegal drugs through their sites.”
In our investigation the first dealer we approached has a popular Instagram page called with more than 2,000 followers and even boasts an online drugs menu.
It brazenly states regular vape drugs can be bought for £35 while “double strength” flavours cost £60.
Our reporter was able to message the dealer on Instagram – which is owned by Facebook – before they carried on their conversation on encrypted messaging app Wickr.
The dealer told our investigator he “will get high” from the liquid because it is made with THC and not CBD (cannabidiol) – a chemical in cannabis which is thought to moderate the drug’s potency.
Our reporter asked: “Are they made with THC yeh and will get me high unlike cbd oil?” to which the dealer replied: “Yes mate…thc not cbd so you will get high. Have you seen the menu?”
We bought two “double strength” Heisenberg vape cartridges which were described as “fruity menthol” flavour by the dealer.
The cash was transferred to a bank account with an extra £3 for delivery before the drug pusher – who used the name “Natey” – gave a postage tracking number.
Our investigators received the vape cartridges and tested the substances at a specialist laboratory where two were in fact found to have Spice drug chemical 5F-ADB and not THC.
The synthetic cannabinoid is thought by experts to be one of the most potent chemicals and has been linked to deaths in the UK as well as 10 in Japan.
Last month it was revealed 14-year-old Luke Pennington had suffered a “severe reaction” and died after smoking Spice at a friend’s house in Stockport, Gtr Manchester, on March 17.
And another teen Zack Shelbourn, 19, from Scarborough, North Yorks., died after smoking a synthetic Spice in which the chemical 5F-ADB was found to have poisoned him in 2016.
Huge quantities of the chemical are imported from production labs in China and India while many products are sold as illegal THC drugs but in fact contain the man-made Spice chemicals.
They are banned under the Misuse of Drugs Act as a class B substance but are also illegal under the 2016 Psychoactive Substances Bill.
Our drugs lab report described how reportedly “small amounts” of the chemical 5F-ADB “caused rapid loss of consciousness which then led to fatal asphyxia due to aspiration of stomach contents into the trachea under low-consciousness conditions.”
It added that the drug’s effects include feelings of “euphoria, relaxation, chest pains, irregular heartbeat, breathlessness, vomiting, confusion, agitation, auditory or visual hallucinations and paranoia.”
Dr Oliver Sutcliffe, expert on psychoactive substances and a lecturer in psychopharmaceutical chemistry, said users had compared Spice drugs to heroin in terms of the withdrawal effects when they stop taking the substances.
And he said police and prison authorities are becoming increasingly concerned about the use of the drugs in vape liquids.
He added: “5F-ADB is a synthetic cannabinoid, one of the third generation we call them and probably the most prolific at the moment
“Since the smoking ban has come into play, individuals have started to take the compound itself and put it in the e-liquid so it’s emerging, the most prolific form of it is the smoking blend but this is starting to come in.
“We haven’t had any samples but we know through the police and prisons we work with they are starting to see it. We are working with a couple of police forces and couple of prisons who said they are concerned about it. Just because it’s not as straightforward to detect.”
Our undercover reporters also bought a third liquid vape cartridge from a dealer advertising on Facebook.
The page advertised drugs with messages including “vape your weed, keep it discreet!” before asking users to contact them on encrypted mobile apps Wickr or Telegram.
Our investigator spoke to the second dealer on the encrypted app Wickr once more where he showed off his menu of vape liquids including a “Scorpion Venom” range.
After asking for “strong THC carts”, we were offered a range in a picture by the dealer and bought a Gelato brand vape liquid.
Again it was posted out with a tracking number and received within a couple of days before we took the liquid for testing in a laboratory.
The results revealed the Gelato liquid contained THC – the main psychoactive substance in cannabis – but not CBD and other natural chemicals which help moderate the drug’s potency.
Other Facebook pages were offering to sell vape liquids such as Kronic Juice which is also thought to contain Spice drug 5F-ADB.
A student news article about cannabis vape drugs has previously declared “this will shatter police investigations” and “getting away with smoking cannabis is about to get a lot easier”.
One user told The Sun how they use the drug vapes during the day at work because it is “inconspicuous” and nobody knows he is vaping Spice.
The 23-year-old chef, who demonstrated how to use the drug, said: “Well I use it quite a lot, I’d say if I had a stressful day at work, I’ll come home and the first thing I’ll grab is the vape, have a few puffs and just relax.
“Sometimes I do it during my break at work, if it’s really busy and I get stressed out maybe I’ll have a cheeky puff but nothing too crazy at those times but on the afternoon or the weekends it can be quite heavy.
“No really knows at my job if I have a puff, it’s really inconspicuous, everyone vapes nowadays, so know can really tell.
“It’s more accessible than you think, buying this bottle is way easier than buying a load of drugs essentially. It’s easier to get hold of.
“I know people that have gone into a cinema and had a puff in there because it’s so inconspicuous at the end of the day.
“This may not get sold as spice, this may get sold as THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) E-liquid, so they think it’s an alternative for cannabis.
“I didn’t know it was synthetic when I first bought it, but now I know I still do it from time to time.”
Experts have warned that buyers often do not know which substances they are purchasing and that the drug’s effects on users are still relatively unknown.
Roz Gittins, director of Pharmacy at drug and alcohol charity Addaction, said: “5F-ADB is a synthetic cannabinoid and THC is an active ingredient in ‘traditional cannabis’.
“The particular problem with synthetic cannabinoids is that much about their effects, particularly in the longer term, are currently unknown.
“When people purchase such substances, there is no guarantee about their actual contents.”
While Peter Burkinshaw, of Public Health England, said of synthetic Spice drugs: “Batches vary in strength, making it easy to use too much.
“Using these drugs can cause immediate side-effects like panic and hallucinations, long-term harm, like psychosis, and addiction.”
The Sun has handed all our evidence, which includes the dealer’s bank details, over to the Met Police for further investigation.
A spokesman said: “The Metropolitan Police Service is committed to tackling drugs and drug related crime in all its forms.
“We work hard to bring offenders to justice and together with the online community we advocate using apps safely and encourage the reporting of crime as soon as possible.
“If you see an advert which you believe is criminal, you should report it to the site hosting the communication and report it to police.”
Spice is a synthetic version of cannabis which is made up of amphetamines and other laboratory produced chemicals.
It was made illegal in 2016, having previously been available as a “legal high”.
The substance has been dubbed the “zombie drug” because of the numbing effect it can have on users.
Organic chemist John Huffmann – who accidentally created it in 2006 when searching for a new way of developing anti-inflammatory medication – claimed that the drug was unfit for human consumption.
An Facebook spokeswoman said they had removed the dealer’s page after a report from a member of the public while Instagram removed the offending account after The Sun’s investigation.
An Instagram spokeswoman added: “Buying or selling illegal or prescription drugs is prohibited on Instagram. This account has been removed for violating our policies. We encourage anyone who comes across content like this to report it via our in-app tools and we work quickly to remove it.”