An urgent warning has been issued to parents following incidents of several children collapsing after inhaling a cannabis vape mix.
The dangerous combination left three kids in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, hospitalised, with police saying they had inhaled vape liquid mixed with THC, the psychoactive element of cannabis.
The town’s neighbourhood police team believe children have been ‘unaware’ of the harmful mix of substances, saying they believe it is part of a ‘very dangerous and misguided’ prank.
The three children required hospital treatment after collapsing, and have thankfully all since recovered.
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In a letter to parents, Sergeant Stuart Mumby-Croft of Sleaford Neighbourhood Police Team said there were at least three reported incidents known to police where kids in Sleaford’s town centre were given a vape, smoked it and then became unwell and collapsed.
“All of those children have, fortunately, made a subsequent recovery,” he explained.
“Hospital treatment has however been required in some cases, with medical professionals stating the symptoms displayed suggest the possible inhalation of a substance such as cannabis.
"There is no suggestion that those children involved have voluntarily inhaled a cannabis-based substance which leaves us making assumptions as to how these incidents have occurred.
“One such conclusion I am forced to consider is the potential of these incidents being the result of a very dangerous and misguided 'prank'.”
Mumby-Croft said the team had been speaking with all three local schools to advise parents on the issue, calling on people to speak to their children ‘regarding the dangers of vaping in general and particularly in accepting vapes, or a drag of a vape, from other people’.
He continued: "We have entered an age where our children now are far more likely to vape than smoke... Vapes afford children the opportunity to ingest nicotine much more secretly than they can with a lit cigarette with a more limited risk of being detected.
"Children under 18 should not be able to purchase them, but the volume we are finding among young teenagers, especially cheap disposable vapes, is high.
"I am sure I do not need to tell you of the dangers if your children accept, borrow or purchase vapes from other pupils, friends or associates.
"I must ask you please to have frank conversations with your children about both the dangers of vaping and nicotine addiction, but also to press home the message that trusting someone willing to give or sell you a vape on the street is unwise and fraught with risk."
Jess Hardiman