Warning over super-strength drugs linked to deaths

An addiction support service is warning about the danger of super-strength drugs that have been linked to a number of deaths across the UK.

Lincolnshire Recovery Partnership (LRP), which is focussed on preventing overdoses, said it had seen a big increase in the use of nitazenes, which are synthetic opioids mixed into street drugs, such as heroin.

Albert Clifton, from the service's rough sleeper team, said: "People are not aware of what they're getting until they've used it and it's wiping them out. It's dangerous stuff."

Recovering heroin addict Mark, not his real name, said users were playing Russian roulette due to not knowing what is in the drugs they are taking.

"Every drug that you get that's in powder or tablet form will be cut with something. You haven't got a clue what's in it," he said. "It's Russian roulette."

The 51-year-old, who was excluded from school at 14, left home and began using cannabis and later heroin, said his girlfriend overdosed in 2024 after taking a "speedball" - a mixture of cocaine, heroin and pharmaceutical drugs.

He said she survived after being rushed to hospital but claimed his neighbour was found dead last month after taking drugs.

According to the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, nitazenes are "typically many times stronger than heroin and carry a higher risk of overdose".

In March 2024, the government added 15 synthetic opioids, including 14 types of nitazene, to the list of Class A drugs, while the Home Office said people convicted of supplying the substances would face "tough penalties".

The latest figures, released by the Home Office in January, showed that since June 2023, there had been at least 400 drug-related deaths across the UK linked to nitazenes and said it expected this figure to increase in the coming years.

Mr Clifton, who is based in Boston, has been handing out warm clothes to rough sleepers as well as naloxone - a nasal spray that acts as an antidote to nitazene.

"I know people who have had an overdose but have not died from it simply because they had naloxone," he said.

"There has been a big increase in nitazene. We are hearing more about it from the people who access our service that it is becoming more prevalent.

"We need to make people aware that it's here and possibly here to stay."

Lincolnshire Police said its officers were being trained to use the antidote spray.

"It saves lives," said Richard Nethercott, temporary Ch Insp at South Holland station, near Boston.

"We are in a unique position as we are often first attending to the scene. If we come across someone who we feel has overdosed we can administer the spray."

To help heroin users identify if they have a dose containing a nitazene, the LRP, which is funded by the local authority, has been handing out test strips that users can use to check for themselves.

"They (nitazenes) have become quite a big issue recently," said Emma Geal, who is a recovery worker at the partnership based in Gainsborough.

"We have noticed a lot of people coming back saying it had nitazene in it. Some said they didn't use it, some people tested their heroin after and, unfortunately, they were not as lucky and did overdose."

Mark has become a father for the first time and said his son was his motivation to stay off drugs and warn others of its dangers.

He said: "I don't want him to be anything like what I've been. I need to get this knowledge into his head before I expire."

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