Ambulances called for vaping Devon schoolchildren

Some were taken to A&E

Cases of pupils from Plymouth schools getting ill after vaping went through the roof last year, a headteacher has claimed. Plymouth City Council Public Health (PCCPH) were called in after a large number of children who had used vapes containing THC (the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis) and the synthetic drug spice had to be taken to A&E.

Anita Frier, headteacher of Stoke Damerel Community College and Scott Medical and Healthcare College, told the city council’s children, young people and families scrutiny panel that she feared a fatality, as PlymouthLive reports.

She said staff at Stoke Damerel and the Marine Academy asked for action to be taken after a rise in cases. Children could easily get hold of vapes for £10, she said.

“We had to go to A&E and call ambulances to some significantly poorly children as a result of taking these substances. Unlike cannabis, it can be very difficult to detect.

“We suddenly had a real spike in schools and we worked together to call in public health. We said there was going to be a child’s death if something doesn’t happen because the number of cases were going through the roof.”

Vaping is big component in the rise of children in Plymouth being suspended or permanently excluded from school. Three hundred children were banned from school for drug and alcohol reasons in the last academic year, double the number from the year before.

PCCPH is trying to prevent children using illegal substances through “universal, targeted and specialist support” ranging from whole school assemblies and group work, more specialist one-to-one support through the city’s drug and alcohol charity SHARP.

A report for the panel said that the take-up of this package is increasing.

Ms Frier said things are improving as a number of deterrents are now in place to keep drugs away from the school gates, including police checks and officers talking to children about the dangers.

She said pupils seeing the impact it has had on their friends is making a difference.