Concern over deadly drug more potent than heroin
PA MediaA charity that supports people with drug addiction has said it is concerned about a rise in synthetic opioids.
The Well in Cumbria said a quarter of people using its services were being treated for opioid use alone and workers were seeing a dramatic increase in nitazenes.
They can be many times more potent than heroin and have been linked to hundreds of deaths in the UK, according to figures obtained by the BBC.
Three nitazene-related deaths were recorded in Cumbria in the last three years.
Ian Treasure, director of The Well, told BBC Radio Cumbria nitazenes were particularly dangerous "because of their potency and strength".
Records showed some people were taking them by accident, as they were mixed in with other drugs like heroin as cheap substitutes.
'Hot batches alert'
"The thing with street heroin is there's no way of telling how pure the batch you've bought is, or what it's cut with," Treasure said.
Nitazene-related deaths are now spreading around the UK faster than anywhere else in Europe and Canada, according to the Global Commission on Drugs Policy.
Treasure said: "What we're seeing is about a third of the people in structured treatment in Cumbria are addicted to opiates, and about a quarter of the people in The Well are in there for opiates alone."
He said The Well used a system that alerted them when batches of drugs that had been cut with nitazenes, known as "hot batches", were found to be in circulation.
"The alerts are working, what we need to do is get the message through to individuals that are using heroin about how they can reduce the harm that drug can cause," he said.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) believes nitazenes are being smuggled into the UK in small volumes through the post.
The government said it would keep enhancing its surveillance and early warning systems to alert people when new drugs emerged.
- If you have been affected by the issues raised in this report, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line.
