YEP Says: The real Leeds Spice '˜zombies' are the drug dealers

How rise in use of drug is having an impact in Leeds city centreThe most irresponsible of our peers in the newspaper industry revel in using Hollywood language in an effort to trigger some morbid curiosity which they hope creates a ghoulish compulsion in us such that we can’t help but buy their product or look at their website.

Leeds spice: Wake-up call for dealers as police raid homes in HarehillsThis week the Yorkshire Evening Post, whilst responsibly giving you the facts of the matter, is looking to debunk the horror movie narrative that surrounds Spice users – human beings often with deeply complex issues – in order to help reasssure you as well as helping the authorities to reclaim the debate.

Seizures, unconsciousness, paralysis: these physical manifestations of a quite destructive substance are not to be trivialised by tagging addicts as fictitious incarnations of the living dead. This is not fiction, sadly.

Dehumanising those sucked into this awful mess does not help. If anyone is worthy of having their very being stripped from them it is those who peddle the drug knowing full-well that for the desperate individual who turns to Spice, it has catastrophic consequences.

If we are to tackle this latest scourge properly, it is up to all of us to challenge lazy red-top parlance, take responsibility for the language we use and own the problem as one.