Wiltshire parents advised to make children aware of spiked vapes risk
Cases have been rising in the county, with a warning from police
Schools across Wiltshire are asking parents to make their children aware of the risks of vapes being spiked.
In a letter parents, seen by Greatest Hits Radio, the rate of vaping among teens is said to be stable - but there are more instances of vapes containing illegal substances.
These materials are known as Spice, which mimics the effect of cannabis, but to a much greater degree, and can lead to hospitalisation.
Spice can lead to serious side effects including: breathing problems, heart attacks and seizures.
Wiltshire Police DI Troy Smith told us it's an issue that needs greater reporting to them.
"For whatever reason that is, we rarely get reports of spiking compared to the amount of anecdotal evidence that we were hear through coming from the street," he said.
DI Smith added: "We need the intelligence coming through to us to know where these spiking hotspots are and whether or not we can spot any patterns that are emerging, which would suggest to us that we have a series of spiking's and we can start looking into it."
The Detective Inspector told us that there is an "element" of prank spiking that the Force has seen.
He said it's something that needs to be stopped as a matter of urgency, even though "causing harm" isn't the main intention of the pranks.
"What we're worried about is when someone ingests drugs and then they don't know they're doing it, they can't prepare themselves for that eventuality," DI Smith said, continuing: "There's also the fact that your vulnerable, vulnerable to other criminals who may not be necessarily involved in the spiking incident but will prey on the vulnerability that is a result of that spike in."
He stressed education is the key to achieving that prevention.
DI Smith advised against vaping as it can damage the health of young people, but said that if teenagers must vape, they must be sure to buy them from a "recognised proper retailer".
He said: "At the end of the day, if you're buying them out of a backroom of the place, then you you are at risk of ingesting something that you really don't want to."