Dozens of drug deaths in the UK this year are being linked to the opiates fentanyl and carfentanyl, which are being added to heroin even though they are many times stronger. The National Crime Agency has warned that dealers are mixing the class A drugs with heroin, and the Guardian has learned that the substances have been found in the bodies of up to 46 people who died this year, although the exact causes of their deaths remained uncertain. Many toxicologists have only recently started looking for fentanyl and carfentanyl in postmortem examinations, and cases involving the substances have yet to reach coroners’ courts – meaning there has been little public discussion of the impact of the drugs. Public Health England said heroin users should be “extra careful” when using the drug, urging them to test a small amount first and not to take it alone. In April, the body issued an alert to medical and emergency services to be vigilant following a spate of deaths in the north of England. Fentanyl is a synthetic opiate, which can be prescribed as a painkiller in carefully measured doses. It is up to 100 times stronger than morphine. Its analogue carfentanyl is 10,000 times stronger and has been used as an elephant tranquilliser. Fentanyl hit international headlines in June, when it was found that Prince died after overdosing on it. In the US, fentanyl is one of the drugs blamed for the rapid rise in overdose deaths and widespread opioid addiction. Harry Sumnall, a professor of substance use at the Public Health Institute at Liverpool John Moores University, said it was unclear why fentanyl and carfentanyl were appearing on the black market in the UK. He suggested it could have been bought on the dark web, and that new suppliers may be trying to enter the market. “Whether it’s so-called user dealers who are buying a local supply, or new actors trying to enter the market but at a much lower level than the established heroin gangs, we don’t really know,” said Sumnall. Simon Hudson, a technical director at LGC, which tests biological samples from coroners for pathology labs, said carfentanyl or fentanyl had been found in up to 46 cases since March. He said about three or four of the 15 cases he received every week were testing positive for the substances but that in most instances a coroner had not yet recorded an official cause of death. Hudson said that 20 micrograms of carfentanyl could be enough to kill someone. “If you look at a grain of sugar, that is one or two milligrams, so 20 micrograms is a 50th of that. You wouldn’t even be able to see that if it was on the desk in front of you. It would be like a spec of dust. “So if somebody’s trying to cut heroin and make it uniform throughout the whole amount of heroin, that’s pretty much impossible,” he said. “Taking it is like playing Russian roulette. One portion of heroin won’t have anything in it, but another will have a couple of specs and it’ll be enough to kill you.” The majority of drug overdoses thought to have involved fentanyl and carfentanyl are in the Yorkshire and the Humber region, but police forces across the north of England, Northern Ireland and Hampshire have issued warnings after finding evidence that heroin was being mixed with the drugs. In April, Humberside police confirmed that two people in Hull had died after taking heroin mixed with fentanyl. DCI Paul Kirby said the force was also trying to establish how a number of other drug users had died in the city. The same month, police said they were investigating whether two deaths in the Leeds area were connected to “unusually strong heroin or heroin derivates”. In May, police linked the death of a 43-year-old man in Wakefield to carfentanyl-laced heroin. A few days later, South Yorkshire police said they were investigating seven deaths around Barnsley. They said they were looking into the possibility that the dead had taken heroin contaminated with carfentanyl and fentanyl. Rosanna O’Connor, the director of drugs, alcohol and tobacco at Public Health England, said the organisation was working closely with coroners, the police, drug testing labs and local drug services to get more information on confirmed and suspected cases.
Opiates Fentanyl and Carfentanyl have been connected to dozens of drug deaths in the UK. The drugs, the former of which was responsible for the musician Prince’s fatal overdose, are being added to heroin and have so far been found in the bodies of up to 46 people who have died in the country this year from uncertain causes. Fentanyl is up 100 times stronger than morphine, whilst Carfentanyl is 10,000 stronger. The former drug has been linked to the rising numbers of overdose deaths and opioid addiction in the US.