Fears over super-strength cannabis laced with opioids
Samples of cannabis have been found to contain nitazenes, a manufactured chemical hundreds of times stronger than heroin, with users unaware they are of what they are taking, experts told LBC.
Drug experts have told LBC they are seeing worrying cases of cannabis being sprayed with synthetic opiates in order to make low-level drug users dependent on harder substances.
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Samples of cannabis have been found to contain nitazenes, a manufactured chemical hundreds of times stronger than heroin, with users unaware they are of what they are taking.
Tandy Hind from Change, Grow, Live (CGL) in Southport told LBC: "I think it's quite difficult for my eyebrows to be raised because I've been around for such a long time, but I think the introduction of synthetic opioids, the nitazenes, xylazines, and fentanyl, and the fact that it's not just being found in heroin, it's been found in other substances, in ketamine, in cocaine, in cannabis, and also in tablets.
"We've seen quite a number of non-fatal overdoses for people who do not use opiates... It's really scary, to be honest.”
Nitazenes are a type of new synthetic opioid made in labs which mimic the effects of natural opioids such as heroin, and Tandy believes they have become more prevalent because of a global shortage of heroin, she said: "I think initially what's happened is there's no heroin.
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The poppy fields have all been destroyed. So, they've had to think about how they continue with the supply and demand. These synthetic opioids have been introduced, man-made opioids, and slowly but surely, they have sort of filtered into drugs.
"We have a number of individuals who will seek medication through the internet, pregabalin and benzodiazepines, and when we've been able to, or when they have tested the substances, they found out that it's not pregabalin, it's not benzodiazepines, it's other things.
"Initially, I think it was a case of it may have been added to what heroin there was out there because the quality wasn't great, and then, as we know, it's all about making money, and if people come back to dealers constantly, then it means that they're making more money.”
Users of the CGL service have told Tandy and her team that dealers are able to add these synthetic opioids to the drugs in order to give them a more powerful product.
She said: "You have dealers coming from other areas into the area and introducing the substances that they have to buy, and that may be when they come into the area, they will give offers like buy one get one free, or if you let me spend a night here, I'll provide you with some drugs. Then word of mouth goes round, this person's got drugs, the quality is really good, and they will come in and they will prey on people's vulnerabilities and use it to their advantage.
“But, synthetic opioids, if you use them, they create a physical dependence, so somebody becomes physically dependent and it means that they're more likely to go back to that dealer to buy whatever it is they're using, not realising that they may be using something else.
These nitazenes have most commonly been found in things like heroin and ketamine, but, alarmingly, there is now evidence of cannabis being sprayed with a fentanyl-like substance in a bid to hook users into a world of dependence.
"The evidence is there that when cannabis has been tested, it's testing positive for opiates”, Tandy said, which means that something has happened for it to test positive for opiates.
"It's a way of getting somebody to come back to buy cannabis again because they develop a physical dependence because of the opiates that have been sprayed on the cannabis, which means that that person is going to come back again and again and again. not realising that they've now developed a physical dependence on another substance.
"t is really scary because normally that's a starting point for people, cannabis, especially for young people, so you have a lot of young people who may be experimenting with cannabis and sociably just having a toot with their friends sort of thing, not realising the dangers around it.
"I think it's really important that we talk about that with young people and that we go into schools and colleges and we have those conversations around, you know, the fact that there are times where you think you're taking something, but it may not be what you think it is, and highlight all of those concerns around You know, the risks around even using a little bit of cannabis."