BELFAST is becoming a city caught in a drugs crisis, a local councillor is warning.
Independent councillor Paul McCusker, who heads up the People's Kitchen on the Antrim Road – which works with the homeless throughout the city – said he is becoming increasingly aware of more and more people smoking Spice of which there is a dangerous strain being circulated at present.
"Symptoms include drowsiness, vomiting and collapse episodes," he warned. "The worrying thing is that often these are unknown substances that users are consuming.
"Spice is a highly dangerous, addictive, and often illegal synthetic cannabinoid drug designed to mimic cannabis, though it is far more potent and unpredictable. Users are sharing vapes and it’s making them experience worrying symptoms.
"Those struggling with an addiction are injecting more, increase in Crack Cocaine being smoked and injected causing many users to experience psychosis, users losing limbs due to prolonged injecting and many struggling to find a way to break the cycle of addiction. Poly drug use is still on the increase and more users are mixing more than one drug."
Cllr McCusker said there are concerns from communities regarding the amount of needles that are being found on the streets. He said there is also an increase in those struggling presenting to A&E.
"Sharing vapes and mixing drugs is increasing the risk of overdose and death and we need to ensure we are doing what we can to prevent this," he added.
"Every overdose is preventable, for many users they risk their lives everyday trying to find a way out of the cycle of drugs."
