Legal high black mamba most popular drug in prison

Officials are claiming that the legal high known as black mamba is the favourite drug amongst prison inmates in Liverpool jails.

The reason for black mamba’s popularity is down to the fact that there isn’t much of a chance of prison inmates being caught taking it, as it resembles rolled tobacco and does not show up in routine drug tests. Black mamba is being used so regularly in prisons that the ambulances used to treat its users have been nicknamed ‘mambalances’ by prisoners. It has become a common sight to see prisoners collapse after smoking the legal high, which can produce results similar to cannabis.

A former inmate at Altcourse prison said: “Cons are being taken to hospital weekly for taking overdoses on spice or mamba. There are two or three ambulances called at weekends. A lot of the violence is linked to drug use.”

The increased use of legal highs in prisons was noticed by prison inspectors following a surge in hospital admissions. The use of legal high drugs has also been noted as a factor in an increase in violence within the prisons, with 210 assaults committed during six months ‒ 38 of these against prison staff.

The HM Inspectorate of Prisons published a report in October that was critical of G4S, the prison operator, stating that it had not done enough to restrict prisoners’ supplies of legal highs. A spokesman for G4S, Jerry Petherick, said that its top priority was to reduce the level of violence and the volume of legal highs amongst the prison population.