Eight school pupils collapse after using fake vapes in Greater Manchester Published duration 17 December 2019

image copyright Greater Manchester Drug Alerts Panel image caption Samples bought as “THC” vapes that contained Spice

At least eight school children have collapsed after using fake cannabis oil vapes in Greater Manchester.

It follows a warning in July after nine young people became unwell after unwittingly vaping liquid containing the synthetic drug Spice.

Greater Manchester Drug Alerts Panel said children, of secondary school age, from Bury, Rochdale and Oldham had been affected since November.

The panel reiterated its warning for people to avoid products sold as "THC".

The vape liquid is being sold in small plastic bottles but does not contain THC, the chemical that causes the "high" in cannabis, the panel added.

Tests found some contained the same chemical used to make Spice, which was outlawed in 2016 , while others contained no psychoactive substance at all.

Over the past two months, the panel said three schools in Oldham and another in Bury had seen ambulances called out to several pupils. One student in Oldham also suffered a seizure.

The panel said several young people at an educational facility in Bury, outside of mainstream schooling, also became "heavily intoxicated", while a young person in Rochdale collapsed after allegedly being forced to inhale a vape.

None of the youngsters were kept in hospital, the panel added.

Greater Manchester Drug Alerts Panel brings together Greater Manchester Police, the NHS, local authorities and drug user support agencies.