UK synthetic opioid deaths may be as high as 500 more than initially thought, research suggests, with some regions experiencing a third more fatalities than reported due to degradation of the potent substance during postmortem tests.
A study by researchers at King's College London found that nitazene, a synthetic opioid hundreds of times stronger than heroin, was often undetectable in toxicology tests due to its unstable nature. This means that many cases may be being missed, leading to an undercounting of the true number of deaths caused by these potent opioids.
The UK National Crime Agency had previously reported 333 fatalities linked to nitazene, but the researchers say this figure is likely to be low and that the actual number could be significantly higher. The study found that only 14% of the nitazene present at the time of overdose remained detectable in real-world pathology and toxicology samples.
The excess deaths in Birmingham in 2023, attributed to the non-detection of nitazene by toxicologists, highlights the issue of incomplete data. Dr Caroline Copeland, lead author of the study, warned that this undercounting has serious implications for harm reduction strategies, stating that "if we don't measure a problem properly, we don't design the right interventions – and the inevitable consequence is that preventable deaths will continue."
The findings come as synthetic opioids become an increasingly public health concern in the UK, with Scotland facing a fresh drug deaths crisis due to highly potent synthetic opioids already linked to over 100 fatalities. The research has sparked calls for the government to be more proactive in rolling out drug testing and overdose prevention measures to save lives.
"It's clear that the extreme potency of nitazenes has contributed to rising overdose and death rates amongst people who use drugs," said Mike Trace, chief executive of the Forward Trust. "This research shows the official numbers are probably underestimates, supporting our calls for the government to be braver in providing lifesaving health services to people taking illegal drugs."
A study by researchers at King's College London found that nitazene, a synthetic opioid hundreds of times stronger than heroin, was often undetectable in toxicology tests due to its unstable nature. This means that many cases may be being missed, leading to an undercounting of the true number of deaths caused by these potent opioids.
The UK National Crime Agency had previously reported 333 fatalities linked to nitazene, but the researchers say this figure is likely to be low and that the actual number could be significantly higher. The study found that only 14% of the nitazene present at the time of overdose remained detectable in real-world pathology and toxicology samples.
The excess deaths in Birmingham in 2023, attributed to the non-detection of nitazene by toxicologists, highlights the issue of incomplete data. Dr Caroline Copeland, lead author of the study, warned that this undercounting has serious implications for harm reduction strategies, stating that "if we don't measure a problem properly, we don't design the right interventions – and the inevitable consequence is that preventable deaths will continue."
The findings come as synthetic opioids become an increasingly public health concern in the UK, with Scotland facing a fresh drug deaths crisis due to highly potent synthetic opioids already linked to over 100 fatalities. The research has sparked calls for the government to be more proactive in rolling out drug testing and overdose prevention measures to save lives.
"It's clear that the extreme potency of nitazenes has contributed to rising overdose and death rates amongst people who use drugs," said Mike Trace, chief executive of the Forward Trust. "This research shows the official numbers are probably underestimates, supporting our calls for the government to be braver in providing lifesaving health services to people taking illegal drugs."
its crazy how much we dont no about the real numbers of synthetic opioid deaths 
i mean think about it 500 more? that sounds like a lot of lives lost to substances we barely understand 
and its not just nitazene either, there are so many new ones popping up all the time 
what can we really do to stop this?
. I mean, nitazene being undetectable in toxicology tests makes total sense, but still... it's hard to fathom how many cases are gonna go unreported because of this degradation 
. Dr Copeland is right, we need accurate data to know what we're up against and create effective plans to combat this. I hope the gov takes these findings seriously and steps up their game 
. 100+ fatalities in Scotland already? that's just heartbreaking 
.
this is so worrying i think we need to upgrade our toxicology tests like whoa! 
they can't keep relying on outdated methods that just won't cut it anymore. we need faster, more reliable ways to detect these new synthetic opioids or else we're gonna be seeing a lot more deaths. and what's the point of having all this data if we don't know how accurate it is? 
we should be using diagrams to visualize the scope of the problem too... like 
and some regions experiencing a third more fatalities 
. it's not just about numbers though, it's about people's lives. 
! I mean, 500 more deaths than thought? That's insane! I remember back in 2019 when fentanyl started getting all over the news and we were like "what is this stuff?" 
. Now we know it's even worse than that. Birmingham had a huge spike last year and nobody knew about nitazene because toxicologists couldn't detect it 
the UK government needs to step up their game and provide more support for people struggling with addiction. We can't keep relying on outdated methods that are failing us 
. The fact that the UK is already seeing hundreds of deaths from synthetic opioids is bad enough, but if we don't get a grip on this, more lives will be lost 
.
. And now you've got Scotland having a fresh crisis and everyone's like "oh, we need to do something"... yeah, sure, because that's exactly what happened last time and look where it got us 
.
. It's time for the government to step up and take action 
. It's hard to know what's really going on because of this degradation issue... can't we all just get along with some more accurate data? 
.