SPICE will only be eradicated from Scotland’s jails when they are properly staffed, the Prison Officers Association (POA) said yesterday, after an expert called for inmates to be given cannabis to combat the menace.

Pharmacologist Stephanie Sharp, a co-founder of Glasgow’s Expert Witness Service, said cannabis was a “much safer” substance than spice.

Herbs soaked in synthetic cannabinoids — marketed as spice or K2 — became a popular “legal high” alternative to weed in the 2000s and have since been made illegal.

But their use has soared among rough sleepers and prisoners, with some saying the effects — including putting users in a zombie-like state — are worse than those of heroin.

Last year three guards at HMP Addiewell in West Lothian were rushed to hospital after inhaling spice smoke. And a fatal accident inquiry will take place into the death of prisoner believed to have taken the drug at HMP Edinburgh.

Ms Sharp told the Daily Record: “Why aren’t prisons able to give them cannabis?

“Psychoactive substances like spice are illegal but all they have to do is change a chemical and they become legal again.

“Because we are not addressing the issue of psychoactive drugs, we are condemning people to death in prisons and on the streets.”

But prison officers believe the crisis has developed because of cuts to prison officer numbers. 

POA chairman Mark Fairhurst told the Morning Star: “While the POA respect the opinion of experts in the field, we feel a much better policy would be to employ enough staff and invest in modern technology to prevent all drugs getting into our prisons in the first place.

“Prisons should be places of reform and rehabilitation, not safe havens for prisoners to use and abuse drugs.”