Prince William speaks out about scourge of drug 'spice'

The Duke of Cambridge has spoken out against the scourge of the drug 'spice' after hearing about its devastating effect on the homeless.

The Duke and Duchess were left moved by the problems the illegal synthetic high is causing rough sleepers, after learning its usage is increasing according to homeless charity The Passage.

The couple toured a central London centre run by the organisation, which has seen an increase in its clients trying the drug at least once.

During the visit the Duke told Mick Clarke, chief executive of The Passage: "The fact it was a legal high and that young people were allowed to take it and it leads to addiction is just terrible."

The synthetic drug is seen as a growing problem, and the biggest challenge the homeless charity faces is that it is cheap, readily available and can exacerbate existing problems like poor mental health.

The Passage carried out a survey of its homeless clients and found 50 per cent had tried the drug at least once in 2016 - when this study was repeated this year the figure had increased to 70 per cent.

After giving the couple a private briefing on spice Mr Clarke said: "There was real empathy that came from both the duke and duchess, they very much care about the issue and I think it marks the way they care about the poorest in society and they take their responsibility to raise those issues, to give it the profile that's needed, very seriously.

"I think they genuinely get it in terms of the stuff they've done around, say, Heads Together [the mental health campaign] and I think they really appreciated hearing first hand the terrible effects of Spice.

"How cheap it is to just get, how readily available it is, I think they were shocked and I think it really brought home this is a drug that targets the poorest of the poor.

"If you're on the streets it doesn't get much worse but if you're on the streets and then you're taking something that literally one puff could hospitalise you, in some cases lead to your death or make you out to be a zombie stereotype figure.

"There was a lot of talk around how we break the cycle of addiction, mental health and homelessness."

The visit was the second of the day for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridg, who had spent the morning meeting young patients at Evelina London Children's Hospital following the announcement the Duchess was to become its new patron.

William and Kate were greeted at the hospital by six-year-old Tiana Hayles who gave the Duchess, who was wearing a green and white polka dot LK Bennett dress, a bunch of posies.

Evelina London will be celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2019, and to celebrate the duke and duchess unveiled and helped to complete a piece of specially commissioned artwork with some of the children.

In a short speech the Duchess said: "Thank you to everyone here, you do such an amazing job supporting children and their families both here and out in the community."

The couple made their way through the hospital reception hall where they were greeted by smiling families, children and hospital staff.

They then met privately with families who use the hospital services regularly, as well as those who may have used them in the past.

One of those families was Debbie Brown and her son, Cruz Brown, 4, who has been attending Evelina since he was born due to his kidneys not functioning.

Ms Brown said the royal couple were interested to hear about the hospital and how they found out Cruz was unwell. Cruz receives dialysis three times a week, for four hours a time at Evelina.

"They were excited about the slides!", Ms Brown said, referring to the large helter skelter slide in the entrance hall.

"They're saying its weird for a hospital to have all of those things in it, but you say 'look it's something for the kids'. But yeah, I was telling them when Cruz comes here, he doesn't really want to leave, he's like 'yeah!"'

The duke and duchess both participated in Christmas crafting with some of the families in Evelina's sunny atrium, where the hospital's choir sang carols.

Preminy Kamalanathan and her three children were crafting with William, with her three-year-old son pleased to show off his dinosaur toy to royalty.

"He talked about dinosaurs didn't he?" Ms Kanalanathan said. "And he said George loved dinosaurs too!"

The Evelina is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, of which the Queen is Patron, and treats children with complex and rare conditions from birth into adulthood.

Marian Ridley, director of Evelina London, said: "We are absolutely delighted and deeply honoured the Duchess of Cambridge has chosen to become our patron."