Fentanyl: The UK’s ‘hidden’ drug epidemic
Fentanyl use has devastated parts of America and claimed thousands of lives, but is there a silent epidemic with the drug, and other synthetic opioids, in the UK now as well?
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In brief…
- More than 400 people died of fentanyl (or other synthetic opioid) use in the UK in the 18 months leading up to January 2025. 48,000 died in America in 2024.
- These drugs can be up to 200 times stronger than heroin, and are also now appearing in drugs such as MDMA, with even the smallest doses being lethal to some people.
- A former fentanyl addict tells The News Agents that it is already an epidemic in the UK, with users seeking out the strongest dose possible.
What’s the story?
Think of fentanyl use and you may think it’s a problem for America.
More than 48,000 people died in the US in 2024 due to use of the drug, and Donald Trump has rallied against imports from both Mexico and Canada, despite just 0.8% of the drug coming across its northern border.
The chemicals needed for its illegal production are most often shipped from China, which Trump has also targeted for its contribution to the US fentanyl crisis.
The drug is growing in use in the UK, with one former addict telling The News Agents that the epidemic is already here, and service providers mobilising to try and prevent it growing beyond street level, and infiltrating wider society.
In the 18 months to January 2025, at least 400 people died from using fentanyl, or other synthetic opioids, in the UK.
What is fentanyl?
Fentanyl is a pain medication, similar to morphine, but used by many people who have also experienced addiction problems with heroin or other opioids.
But with the drug being up to 250 times stronger than heroin, even people who have built up resistance to opioids through years of drug abuse, have overdosed or died.
It is used as anaesthetic or pain relief in the medical industry.
What’s happening in the UK?
Molly Howden, lead nurse at drugs outreach project CGL Camden, North London tells The News Agents that most people who buy fentanyl, or more often other synthetic opioids known as nitazenes, in the UK do so believing it is heroin.
“It can be up to 100 times stronger than heroin, but then the next time, it could be 200 times stronger,” she says.
“So it's really difficult for us to advise people how much stronger it is. They were never made for human consumption.”
Molly has seen numbers of more than 30 people a month overdosing in just her North London borough.
“It's obviously not just happening here. It's happening in other boroughs and all over the country,” she adds.
She believes the increase in people using, and coming to harm from, these drugs is simply down to the cost.
And it’s not just addicts who could be at risk – netazines have also been found in ‘party drugs’ such as MDMA, meaning they could be ingested by people with no tolerance at all to opioids.
It can be deadly, even in tiny quantities.
Fentanyl already an ‘epidemic’ in the UK
Alistair is a former user of fentanyl, and tells Lewis Goodall the experience of using fentanyl is “overwhelming”, and says trying to come off fentanyl is even harder than substances like heroin or cocaine.
He spent two and a half weeks in hospital after an overdose, following a relapse earlier this year.
“It gets you physically, you want it and mentally, you definitely want it a lot more than the other drugs,” Alistair explains.
“It's been an epidemic here.”
He says that addicts will purposely seek out the strongest possible drugs.
“I knew a trend that if someone overdosed on it and either passed away or was seriously ill, and other addicts knew about it, everyone would want to find the person's house that had it so they could get the strong stuff,” he says.
“I was included. So we were more intrigued to find out who had the stuff that nearly killed someone so we could get that.”
He says the epidemic is “hidden” in the UK, with little media coverage of the extent of the drug.
Vicki Markiewicz, executive director for Change Grow Live, the largest of the third sector providers of drug and alcohol services, treatment services in the UK, describes drug dealers in the UK as conducting “live experiments” with nitazenes, to work out how much they can put in their product without killing their customers.
The use of nitazenes, and their availability, she adds could become “the norm” in the UK, which is a worry to service providers offering help with drug and alcohol problems.