A ‘FRANKENSTEIN’ drug thought to be 500 times stronger than heroin is linked to hundreds of deaths a year in the UK. Using data from UK National Programme on Substance Use Mortality (NPSUM), scientists examined drug deaths in Birmingham in 2023, where “nitazenes were particularly prevalent”. They identified a 33 per cent excess in drug deaths. It typically takes around a month for blood samples to be analysed by toxicologists. Dr Copeland said: “If nitazenes are degrading in post-mortem blood samples, then we are almost certainly undercounting the true number of deaths that they are causing.

Source: The Times February 09, 2026 09:52 UTC