This horrifying footage shows how a new strain of the drug Spice is turning Manchester’s homeless people into ‘the walking dead’.

It appears to ‘freeze’ those who smoke it leaving them standing or squatting like statues. In some cases they then they keel over onto their faces.

Over the last week there has been a surge in emergency ambulance call outs to people in the city centre who have ‘frozen’ and then collapsed after taking Spice.

Within minutes of the MEN walking down Tib Street on Sunday we found a man who friends said had been affected by the drug. He appeared to be unconscious yet was standing.

When he came round he confirmed he was a Spice user and said “I have used it for about two years. It’s cheap in bundles and they are going for daft prices.

“Heroin users are saying it’s the worst stuff going. It’s dangerous.”

(Image: Vincent Cole)

Julie Boyle, support worker at the Northern Quarter-based charity Lifeshare which helps homeless young people, described how over the last week she has seen a surge in the number of people with the terrifying new symptoms.

Last Thursday she found a woman collapsed at Piccadilly Gardens tram stop, having taken a drag of what she thought was cannabis but turned out to be Spice.

When an ambulance arrived the paramedic told her they had been called to 26 similar incidents that day alone.

“In the city centre there are people who just look like they are frozen, like the walking dead, sat in a catatonic state not moving,” said Julie.

“You wouldn’t even know they were alive – it’s like when you press pause on the telly. They don’t know where they are.

“I first noticed it probably the beginning of last week but then it’s intensified more as the week’s gone on.”

Lifeshare has been at the forefront of the battle with Spice on Manchester’s streets, as reported in a recent MEN special investigation.

The charity estimates 95 per cent of young homeless people are on Spice, which is a general term for a synthetic drug originally classed as a legal high but outlawed last April. It is now being dealt on the streets instead of being bought in shops.

The drug has already been causing chaos, with Lifeshare warning of youngsters being trafficked, gang raped, contracting HIV and even dying as a result. But Julie says the latest strain – which she is hoping to get tested for its contents – is even worse.

“Whatever’s going round the city centre at the moment is causing this,” she said. “Every corner where there are beggars or homeless people hanging about, out of every six or so at least two will be catatonic.

“People are falling without even putting out their hands, which would be your natural instinct,” she said. “They’re just falling face down, injuring their face or the back of their head. It’s horrible. It was bad enough before but this is another level.”

Lewis Morris, 37, who has been living on the streets since December 2016, knows all about this new strain of Spice. He said: “It’s lethal.

“I was walking down Market Street the other day and 17 people went down on it. They hit the deck shaking out of control and I had to phone an ambulance.

“It’s madness. It’s so cheap. Whoever is selling it they are making a lot of money on it. It’s unreal.

“The new stuff is mixed with the tranquilliser they use when transporting koi carp to calm them down.

“Somebody could offer me £1,000 of it now but I would just burn it. That’s how against it I am.

“It’s really cheap. People are getting it for £5 a gram and it will last you all day. It’s taken over heroin and crack.”

Another homeless man Michael Cauchi, 37, said he accidentally took the new strain of Spice and thought he was going to die.

He said: “Somebody passed me half a roll-up once and I didn’t realise it was Spice. I thought I was dying.

WATCH: Shocking videos show prisoners high on spice

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“I was walking up and down asking people to phone for an ambulance. My brain was closing down.

“It was like my lungs were shutting down and my brain was closed. Afterwards when I came back round I could’ve sworn that I’d died.

“It took me a long time to remember who I was, my daughter’s name, my date of birth, anything like that. It took me at least two hours.

“The lads that are taking it. It’s finishing them off. It’s completely sending them catatonic where they are stood with their heads against the wall and not being able to move for about 45 minutes.

“It’s become a massive epidemic. People are thinking they can do their detox from heroin with this Spice but when they try to come off the Spice there’s no help.”

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

A police source confirmed there had been a spike in Spice-related calls to the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) in the city centre.

NWAS said it was unable to check how many such calls it had had due to the way it records its data.

However it confirmed ‘multiple incidents’ in the city centre during the last weekend of February, with crews seeing a general rise in the city centre, particularly in the homeless community.

It is understood Manchester council’s public health department was unaware of the latest issue but will now investigate.

City centre spokesman Coun Pat Karney said he would be following the issue up immediately, adding: “I will be meeting urgently with all agencies, including police, to see what this frightening substance is.”