A forensic toxicologist holds a nitazene powder sample at the Center for Forensic Science Research ... [+]
Synthetic opioids that can be hundreds of times more powerful than morphine are being advertised illicitly through U.K. social media, an investigation has found.
BBC reporters found posts advertising the deadly drugs — known as nitazenes— on social media platforms including SoundCloud and X, formerly known as Twitter.
Suppliers based in China, where the drugs are often manufactured, appeared to be targeting drug dealers, who may mix the potent substances with other drugs, the investigation revealed.
One expert — Charles Yates of the U.K.’s National Crime Agency — suggested dealers cut nitazenes with regular drugs simply because they are cheap.
What are nitazenes?
Nitazenes are a class of synthetic opioid made in a laboratory. They are similar to opiates like heroin and morphine, but can be much stronger.
Exactly how powerful the drugs are will vary, but some are hundreds of times more potent than natural opiates like heroin or morphine.
In fact, a British coroner described a nitazene called isotonitazene as “500 times more powerful” than morphine in a report published last month in an effort to prevent future deaths. The substance had been implicated in the deaths of two prison inmates.
In total, nitazenes have been linked to more than 100 deaths in the U.K. in the last 10 months , a previous BBC report stated.
More than a dozen nitazenes were banned in the country last month, including isotonitazene, metonitazene, butonitazene, protonitazene and flunitazene.
The drugs are controlled substances in the U.S., which charged several companies from China in relation to their supply last year. Last month, U.K. officials pledged to work with the U.S. to crack down on the drugs in both countries.
Crime and policing minister, who met with U.S. secretary of state to discuss how the countries could work together, said at the time: “Synthetic opioids are significantly more toxic than heroin and have led to thousands of deaths overseas. We are determined to ensure these destructive and lethal drugs do not take hold in our communities in the U.K.”
What did the investigation find?
BBC investigators found nearly 3,000 posts on SoundCloud that appeared to advertise the drugs. The posts were largely made up of short audio clips, the titles of which contained drug names and contact details.
The BBC also found about 700 posts on X advertising the drugs.
Undercover reporters then posed as buyers and contacted 35 suppliers, 30 of whom said they could ship nitazenes to the U.K. Some offered to smuggle the drugs into the country via catering products and dog food.
SoundCloud has now removed the posts, telling the BBC it had been “targeted by bad actors” and that it would do "everything” it could “to tackle this worldwide epidemic."
Although many X posts have been taken down, the BBC said some were still up weeks after it alerted the firm. X did not respond to the broadcaster’s requests for comment.
A U.K. Home Office spokesperson told the outlet that there had been “an intensive operational effort” to track down nitazene suppliers, and that wastewater testing to find traces of the drugs was ongoing.
