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The UK government is behind the curve in tracking the spread of new super-strength drugs.

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UK too slow to act on lethal drug threat - doctors

In March 2024, we reported criticism the UK government was behind the curve in tracking the spread of new super-strength drugs.

We found more than 100 deaths had been linked to synthetic opioids called nitazenes between June 2023 and February 2024, through data obtained from the National Crime Agency.

Dr Mark Pucci, a doctor who had treated a number of patients who had taken the drugs, said flawed data collection methods meant the numbers were likely to be a significant underestimate.

In the week of publication, the UK government made 15 synthetic opioids Class A drugs.

Our story on the BBC website featured interviews with two people recovering from heroin addictions who had overdosed when they took nitazenes unwittingly.

nitazene getty

Background

The National Crime Agency (NCA) believed nitazenes were being produced in illicit labs in China and were entering the UK through the Royal Mail and other parcel operators.

It said in most cases, they were then cut and mixed with heroin by organised gangs, strengthening the drugs being sold on the street.

They had also been found in samples of illegal diazepam tablets, most likely bought online.

Diazepam - also known by one of its brand names, Valium - was a class-C drug in the UK, commonly used to treat anxiety, muscle spasms and seizures. It was illegal to possess without a prescription.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) told the BBC it was concerned about nitazenes in "fake medicines".

Alongside law enforcement agencies, DHSC had joined a cross-government taskforce to lead the response.

Critics, however, said the authorities had not acted fast enough to track non-fatal overdoses involving nitazenes.

What we shared

We shared a story pack, complete with a detailed background, methodology and expert comment.

Interviews in the pack included:

  • Dr Mark Pucci (he/him), a consultant in clinical toxicology in Birmingham and Sandwell, who treated the first person in the UK found to have taken a nitazene in July 2021, was a consultant for the National Poisons Information Service (NPIS) and observed 13 patients who overdosed and survived between July and October 2023 among 19 who tested positive for the new drugs in blood and urine tests.
  • Dr Judith Yates (she/her), a GP from Birmingham who collated data about drug deaths in the city, where several deaths linked to nitazenes took place in 2023.
  • Charles Yates (he/him), deputy director of the National Crime Agency (NCA).
  • Vicki Markiewicz (she/her), one of four Executive Directors responsible for service delivery at the charity Change Grow Live, which specialised in substance misuse and criminal justice intervention projects in England and Wales.
  • Charlie Mack (he/him) , chief executive of the charity Cranstoun, which provided services for adults and young people facing difficulties with alcohol and other drugs, domestic abuse, housing and criminal justice.
  • The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
  • The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Get the data

In our accompanying Google Sheet we shared the following data broken by region:

  • The most recently-updated figures for deaths linked to nitazenes from 1 June 2023-22 February 2024 through post-mortem toxicology results, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA)
  • Deaths linked to nitazenes from 1 June 2023-31 December 2023 through post-mortem toxicology results, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA)
  • Non-fatal overdoses associated with confirmed nitazenes from 1 June 2023-31 December 2023 as recorded by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID)
  • All suspected opioid non-fatal overdoses tracked from 1 June 2023-31 December 2023 as recorded by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID)

The data from OHID was obtained by the BBC Shared Data Unit after requesting an internal review of an FOI response that was initially a refusal.

Partner usage

The story was used widely across the BBC, including as lead stories for both BBC Breakfast and Radio 4's Today programme. A television package was featured on BBC News at One and BBC News at Six and our report was viewed more than 2.6m times on the @bbcnews TikTok account

TikTok.PNG

Four regional television outlets used the information including:

  • North West Tonight (package)
  • East Midlands Today (package)
  • Midlands Today
  • Look North

Thirty regional radio stations also used the story pack, including:

  • London
  • Stoke
  • Lincolnshire
  • Kent
  • Bristol
  • Wiltshire

The Shared Data Unit makes data journalism available to the wider news industry as part of the BBC Local News Partnership. Stories written by regional partners based on this research included:

Other national usage:

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