Deadly Opioid Deaths Hidden: Study Reveals Underreporting

A concerning study from King's College London suggests that the number of deaths attributed to nitazenes, a class of synthetic opioids hundreds of times more potent than heroin, may be underestimated across the UK. Researchers found that these powerful drugs can degrade significantly in postmortem blood samples, leading to missed detections in toxicology tests.

Testing revealed that an average of only 14% of nitazene remained in rat samples under realistic handling conditions. Applying this to UK data, researchers identified an excess of drug deaths in Birmingham in 2023, suggesting non-detection of nitazene as a probable cause.

Dr. Caroline Copeland highlighted that this undercounting has serious implications for drug-related mortality data, which are crucial for designing harm reduction strategies. The study implies that current efforts to combat the synthetic opioid crisis may be based on incomplete information, leading to preventable deaths.

Government response acknowledges the tragedy of drug misuse deaths and commitment to reducing them. Border Force has implemented specially trained dogs to detect both fentanyl and nitazenes, indicating an ongoing effort to address emerging drug threats.