A substance said to be stronger than notorious opioid fentanyl has been connected with hundreds of deaths in the UK this year and is being sent to people buy black market pharmaceuticals
Black market medicines contain a substance linked to hundreds of deaths across the UK, sparking fears of a drug epidemic.
A BBC probe found more than one hundred examples of people trying to buy prescription medicines such as diazepam but instead receiving products containing nitazenes.
According to the National Crime Agency, nitazenes have been connected to 278 UK deaths in a year. The synthetic opioids can be many times stronger than fentanyl – which is itself far more potent than heroin.
Drug expert Professor Christopher Stove warns nitazenes have all the ingredients to create a drug crisis. They were first detected in the US in 2019 but appear to have spread widely in the last 12 months. Now they are flooding Europe’s drug markets.
The contaminated substances were identified in anonymous samples sent to Wedinos, the only national drug-checking service in the UK. Fake medicines often look the same as the real thing but are usually bought online from illicit sellers.
Professor Rick Lines, from Wedinos, said: “Perhaps people have found that they weren’t able to continue on a prescription and decided to go through what they think is an alternative legitimate route, but is in fact not.”
Alex Harpum died last year aged 23 after he took a substance contaminated with a nitazene. The budding opera singer had tried to buy anxiety pills usually sold as Xanax, which are only available with a private prescription in the UK.
But the nitazenes were only detected after his mum, Anne Jacques, queried police on their testing. Mrs Jacques, who lives in North Wales, said: “If I hadn’t pushed for better answers in the middle of massive grief, then to this day I would have no idea how he actually died. Unless we’re testing for them, how is anyone going to be aware and informed?”
The NCA believes nitazenes are being produced in Chinese labs and brought into the UK via the dark web and sent through the Royal Mail and other parcel operators.
The Border Force only examines overseas post for drugs if there is a known risk or intelligence. Its teams seized new synthetic opioids nine times in the past financial year, according to a response under the Freedom of Information Act.
Those seizures ranged in size from 1g to 1.32kg. Experts said this could equate to tens of thousands of doses.
The government said it planned to test for the presence of nitazenes in wastewater from sewage treatment plants. It has, however, admitted this kind of testing is currently only “experimental”.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said there had been delays beyond the control of the Met relating to the need for, and timing of, specialist testing for the opioids.
Nitazenes were developed in the US in the 1950s but were not approved to go to market.
