Vapes laced with cannabis oils are being freely advertised over TikTok as drug researchers warn that more and more children are being hospitalised by illegal vaping.
Accounts on the video-sharing platform, where a quarter of users are under 18, are promoting synthetic cannabis and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) oil, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, which is added to ordinary vaping liquid.
The products, which are a mixture of homemade oils and those bought from America, where cannabis is legal in certain states, are often packaged in a way that is designed to appeal to children.
One vendor was selling packets adorned with characters from the cartoons Futurama and The Simpsons, as well as those named after sweets such as “Gumdrops” and “Pick & Mix”.
Another, with more than 3,000 TikTok followers, was selling 10ml bottles of “knock out strength” THC for as little as £3 and sending them via Royal Mail special delivery.
The TikTok accounts act as a shop window. Those wishing to purchase are directed to Telegram, the secure messaging app, where they can place their order.
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In the past year, local authorities around the country including those in Essex, Hampshire and Middlesbrough, have issued warnings in response to the rising number of children who have collapsed after using cannabis oil vapes.
Greater Manchester Drug Alerts Panel has highlighted Bury, Rochdale and Oldham as hotspots and said that, in the past two months, three schools in Oldham and another in Bury had had ambulances called out for pupils.
In July, a 12-year-old boy at Saint John Henry Newman Catholic College in Oldham, collapsed in the playground after inhaling a synthetic cannabis vape on the school bus.
A survey of 4,000 members published by the teaching union NASUWT in October found that 85 per cent believed vaping was a problem on school premises, with 75 per cent saying the issue had grown in the past year.
Comments on their experiences included that students were “vaping THC and being sick, passing out and being high while on school premises”, and that there had been an “escalation from vaping nicotine to THC”.
Oliver Sutcliffe, director of Manchester Drug Analysis and Knowledge Exchange (Mandrake), said that what was of particular concern was the growing potency of the vapes, with some oils containing a 90 per cent concentration of THC.
Mandrake, which works with Greater Manchester police, is one of the few labs in the country that provides rapid drug analysis. Drugs arrive at the lab after being seized by police, either when a person has been arrested or hospitalised.
In the past 12 months all of the THC vapes analysed by the lab had been used by schoolchildren, Sutcliffe said.
“The problem is becoming the strength of these vapes, and high-strength THC is certainly something we have seen a lot more of this year by comparison with previous years,” he said. “We need to be prepared to see more of these products on the market.”
It is illegal to sell vapes to under 18s, but a recent survey found that one in five teenagers in England had tried vaping, an increase of a third on the previous year.
Dame Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, described the vaping market as a wild west where harmful products were being “intentionally and insidiously” promoted to children.
“I am really worried that young people are being targeted online with these highly addictive and very harmful products with very little restriction from social media companies,” De Souza said.
“We need to be moving much faster on this issue or we risk it spiralling out of control.
“As children’s commissioner, I am calling for tighter restrictions on the advertising of vapes across the board, whether that’s online or in shops, as a matter of urgency.”
A spokeswoman for TikTok said: “We have reviewed the accounts flagged and content found to violate our community guidelines has been removed.
“We also do not recommend content showing vaping and other tobacco products in the For You Feed, regardless of the user’s age.”