The dark Spice wave turning top London hotspot into ‘Zombieland’ as addicts ‘fall asleep in vomit’ and terrify commuters
A MAN in a zombie-like state almost crashes into a woman in her 20s as he weaves manically down the road.
Later, two Spice addicts get into a scrap over an unpaid debt as one of the men begs passersby for help.
Next, after a clutch of users huddle behind a building site to smoke the synthetic cannabinoid, a woman passes out unconscious in full view of the masses rushing past.
Welcome to Victoria Station in central London, a major transport hub that is now being dubbed ‘zombieland’ as so many Spice junkies congregate here.
Salesman Adam Bolf has worked in the area for the past five years and says he has been shocked at the number of homeless people taking the deadly drug.
Adam, 40, said: “It’s a daily issue, it’s every day. The first thing they get in the morning, once they’ve got enough money for it, is the Spice.
“Food is secondary and food they get because people come out and give them coffee and a sandwich, so they don’t need to spend money on food.
“Money for Spice is the priority. It’s a major issue. I’ve befriended a few of the homeless people here and they tell me a score – a bag of Spice – is £20.
“They smoke it openly everywhere, like cigarettes. They roll it up and spray the Spice on the tobacco and no one knows what is inside it – the Spice chemical doesn’t have a distinctive odour.
“Afterwards, they are knocked out. They bend over, they stay still. There’s no movement and it lasts for 10 or 15 minutes and then they get up again.
“It often looks like a yoga class is taking place outside the station but it’s all Spice addicts in a line.
“I also call it the ‘statue park,’ as that is how it looks.”
Adam adds: “It can make them very unwell.
“You see them lying in their own vomit because they can’t move and they urinate themselves too.
“The underground station was closed recently because someone overdosed down there.
“We have a lot of people begging around the station and when they can’t get the drug they starve for it and there are issues.
“I’ve seen people fighting over money and Spice and it does scare a lot of people, particularly women working in the area who don’t feel able to defend themselves.”
Zombie epidemic
Spice is a nickname for a substance containing one or more synthetic cannabinoids.
It was originally designed to mimic the effect of cannabis but is now known as the ‘zombie drug’ because of the impact it has on users.
A recent report found that 95 per cent of homeless people in Manchester were addicted to the drug, leading to disturbing scenes in the city centre with users vomiting, staggering and passing out.
The drug has also become endemic in UK prisons, where it was implicated in almost half (48 per cent) of all non-natural deaths between 2015 and 2020.
The effects of Spice include inability to move, dizziness, breathing difficulties, chest pain, heart palpitations, seizures, extreme anxiety, paranoia, suicidal thoughts, psychosis and gastrointestinal issues such as vomiting and diarrhoea.
The London Ambulance Service says that last year it received 76 Spice-related call outs in the Westminster area, where Victoria Station is based.
This was almost double the number of call-outs when the pandemic came to an end in 2022 and 40 such calls were made.
A Sun team visited Victoria Station this week and found evidence of drug misuse from early in the morning with users bent double on their feet or sprawled out unconscious on the freezing cold pavement.
One of the most troubling scenes we witnessed was when a ghostly pale woman collapsed after smoking a suspicious roll-up beneath the old John Lewis HQ opposite the train station.
With workers on the adjoining building site looking on helplessly, her lifeless body became rigid as a corpse as the drug took hold.
It was about 20 minutes before she was able to shake off the effects and shuffle off.
It’s not a great advert for London when someone steps off a train and sees what is going on here
Anonymous security guard
Photos and video handed to us by concerned members of the public showed Spice users in an array of alarming situations.
One showed a homeless man passed out with his dog sitting on his head. Another captures two addicts battling over money earmarked for another hit.
A third shows a man in a hoodie and sunglasses grabbing his groin as he menaces passing tourists.
Other footage allegedly captures two addicts off their heads stealing a council water tank.
And one of the most disturbing videos shows a Spice addict so out of it he almost crashes into a young woman as he struggles to walk in a straight line.
Drug ghetto
Speaking anonymously, a security guard working in Victoria estimated there were between 100 and 150 homeless people living around the station.
He said: “We have problems with them every day. It can get really ugly here with people stealing and fighting and shouting at passersby.
“Victoria Station is like Zombieland nowadays because of all the Spice addicts. We do our best to maintain order but there’s a limit to what we can do.
“And it’s not a great advert for London when someone steps off a train and sees what is going on here.”
A local businessman, who also declined to be named, said: “We have massive problems around the station and something should be done about it.
“They are sleeping in doorways, urinating in the street, camping in the park and begging for money so they can buy drugs.
“You see so many of them completely out of it that it can be intimidating, especially if you are working late at night.
“I do feel sorry for them as I can’t imagine what it’s like sleeping and living on the streets. I just wish they could come up with a solution for the problem.
“Westminster is turning into one the drug ghettos we see in America with all the fentanyl addicts – the scenes we witness here are very similar.
“What’s absolutely clear is that Spice is an evil drug and the police should be doing more to get it off our streets.”
Westminster is turning into one the drug ghettos we see in America
Local businessman
Westminster City Council told The Sun they are investing an additional £140million into buying temporary accommodation after their latest budget plans were approved, and that they are hiring more City Inspectors to keep the streets safe.
Cllr Adam Hug, leader of Westminster City Council, said: “Safety and assurance for our residents – whether on the streets, keeping a roof over their heads or with help for the less well-off – is at the very heart of this Budget.
“Like all London councils, we are facing unprecedented demands on our services with spiralling costs for housing and care.
“Wherever you live in Westminster, you should be able to enjoy your surroundings without fear of those dealing drugs or committing other crimes and anti-social behaviour that can sometimes blight our neighbourhoods.
“Our new, redeployable cameras are already helping in court prosecutions and we will deploy them wherever residents need them most.”