Foreign gangs selling deadly DIY drug kits into UK via TikTok and Instagram

A deadly lab-made drug increasingly vaped by schoolkids is being funnelled into the UK via DIY kits sold on TikTok and Instagram, Metro can reveal.

Synthetic cannabinoids, known as spice, are being openly flogged on social media platforms despite causing dozens of deaths last year.

A Metro investigation found that foreign gangs are exploiting legal loopholes and selling ‘Do It Yourself’ kits on TikTok and Instagram for dealers to produce spice themselves in the UK.

Dozens of videos, many from Chinese accounts, boast about spice and show dealers how to make the dangerous drug, which campaigners warn is growing in popularity among teenagers.

Spice contains man-made chemicals meant to act on the brain in a similar way to THC, which causes the high in cannabis.

However, it is far more dangerous than cannabis, with deaths from spice in the UK more than doubling in 2025, from 44 to 95, according to official statistics released last week.

Spice can also cause seizures, heart attacks, organ damage and mental health problems, such as anxiety and paranoia.

The cheap drug is rapidly becoming popular among school-age children, with up to a quarter of vapes confiscated in classrooms containing the drug.

Spice was primarily being made in clandestine labs in China before Beijing cracked down on it in 2021.

Now experts say gangs in China have turned to selling DIY kits which contain just the ‘ingredient’ materials for spice, that are not covered by government bans on psychoactive substances.

Following instruction manuals supplied in the kits, these chemicals can then be made into spice in the UK before being sold on by drug dealers, including to children.

Professor Christopher Pudney, a leading expert on online illicit drug markets who works with police forces across the UK, said the kits were one of the main ways ‘the drug is distributed and supplied in this country.’

Metro has uncovered that drug gangs are using TikTok and Instagram to sell these spice kits to British dealers.

Dozens of accounts were advertising spice kits to dealers, easily discoverable using a euphemism for the drug.

Videos and pictures show piles of the raw materials used to make the drug, while others depict the chemical process dealers can carry out at home to make the deadly end product.

A number of these sellers use phone numbers connected with China, while others are connected to British dealers and provide +44 numbers.

Prof Pudney is part of a team of researchers behind a new study on spice products sold via TikTok.

They have separately discovered 370 primary accounts linked to spice, with 90,573 followers, across the popular social media platform.

The majority of accounts linked to European countries were targeting the UK and Germany.

The experts found that sellers were actively attempting to promote their drug kits and other spice products to users through popular hashtags.

While spice was historically associated with prisoners and homeless users, concern has shifted increasingly to school children.

Prof Pudney, who has tested for spice in vapes in secondary schools alongside police forces, said ‘the overwhelming molecules we see are the ones sold in the kit form.’

He added they have also ‘see[n] the precursor chemical in many of the vapes’.

While that does ‘not guarantee’ that the spice vape came from a kit, he called it a ‘pretty strongly indicative that that’s the case.’

His ‘social media analysis’ has shown that ‘Chinese dealers selling the kits are tightly associated with accounts in the UK selling spice vapes’.

Another concern is the vast amount of cheap spice one kit can produce.

Prof Pudney estimates that £1,000 can purchase a kilogram of starter material, which can produce £1,000,000 of product.

A number of the accounts selling kits found by Metro had existed for years.

It was only when this newspaper informed TikTok and Instagram of our findings that the pages were removed and at least one common keyword was blocked.

Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, founder of drug education charity the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation, said social media platforms were not doing enough to stop drugs being sold online.

Mabbs, who is also Chair of the national Drug Education Forum, told Metro: ‘It is absolutely not difficult for the platforms to find these accounts.

‘They need to use all the tools at their disposal to make sure that this is not getting on their platform at all. 

‘These channels are reaching vulnerable young people who are making decisions without knowing what they’re actually putting their money toward. 

‘I do not understand why platforms can’t work harder to make their spaces safe.’

The Online Safety Act 2023 places clear legal duties on online platforms to prevent users from encountering illegal content and to ensure that such content is swiftly removed.

According to a TikTok spokesperson, 99.8% of videos that violated their policies on regulated goods, including illegal drugs, were removed proactively.

The company insists they prohibit the trade, marketing or provision of illegal drugs and unregulated substances.

They have also launched a search intervention this year, meaning users on TikTok who search terms such as ‘Vapes’ are directed to this page, which connects them to professional support helplines.

Meta told Metro they do not allow the sale of illegal or unapproved drugs on their platforms and have removed content that violates their policies. 

They also insisted that over 94% of content violating drug content policy was removed proactively.

Meta also said they are constantly working to improve detection, and urge people to report anything they think violates their policies so they can review and take action.

An Ofcom spokesperson said: ‘The sale and promotion of illegal drugs online can have devastating consequences. Under the Online Safety Act, social media platforms must assess and mitigate the risk of UK users encountering criminal content, and take down illegal material swiftly when they become aware of it.

“We’ve shown we’ll take action if evidence suggests companies are falling short.’

Ofcom said they have launched investigations into more than 100 platforms in the first 18 months since the Act came into force.

They added: ‘Insights from academics like Professor Pudney are crucial to our work in enforcing the Act, and we remain open to receiving further evidence on this matter.’

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We are alert to the threat of illegal drug supply and are determined to prevent dangerous substances from reaching our communities.

‘It is a criminal offense to produce controlled drugs, and anyone caught doing so will face the full force of the law.

‘Social media platforms also have a duty to remove illegal drugs content as soon as they become aware of it. Those that fail to comply face enforcement action.’

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