When scientists at Ciba Pharmaceuticals in the Swiss city of Basel developed nitazenes in the 1950s, they had high hopes for the commercial success of their radical new product.

A synthetic opioid or super-strength painkiller, it was designed to be an alternative to morphine, the drug that then dominated the market in pain relief for cancer patients and people recovering from surgery.

But the medical regulators had other ideas. Appalled at the incredible potency of nitazenes - and the obvious danger that any patients prescribed them would swiftly become addicted - they blocked the drug's release.

And there the story of a compound reputed to be 300 times stronger than heroin might have ended.

Fast forward 70 years or so, however, and nitazenes are back. Made in clandestine labs by chemists who have trawled historical research to mine the work of pioneering scientists, they are now increasingly available on the black market. Many of these labs are in China, and the drugs are so powerful that they have been nicknamed 'Frankenstein' opioids.

This is a terrifying development, because nitazenes are 20 times stronger than fentanyl, another powerful synthetic opioid which in 2022 alone killed 75,000 people in America.

Just this week, Luke D'Wit was convicted of murdering an Essex couple in their 60s by lacing their prescription medication with deadly amounts of fentanyl. Access to nitazenes poses even greater dangers.




Nitazenes (pictured) are 20 times stronger than fentanyl, another powerful synthetic opioid which in 2022 alone killed 75,000 people in America





This week Luke D'Wit was convicted of murdering an Essex couple in their 60s by lacing their prescription medication with deadly amounts of fentanyl. Access to nitazenes poses even greater dangers

On Wednesday, the Government acted to combat the scourge of such drugs by introducing legislation to make 14 nitazenes Class A drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

‘Placing these toxic drugs under the strictest controls sends a clear message that the consequences for peddling them will be severe,' said Home Secretary James Cleverly.

More than 100 deaths have been linked to nitazenes since last summer, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA), and some doctors believe the authorities have been slow to wake up to the scale of the potential threat.

Unscrupulous illegal dealers mix the cheap opioid with other drugs such as heroin, alprazolam (Xanax) and even the anxiety medication diazepam (Valium).

British authorities were alerted to the drug's arrival in July 2021 when an unnamed 18-year-old was found by his mother unconscious and breathing heavily at home in the West Midlands.

She called an ambulance and began CPR, which kept her son alive long enough for an ambulance crew to administer the opioid antidote naloxone, which rapidly stops the potentially fatal effects of the drug. He was subsequently put on a ventilator and narrowly survived.

The boy's case was investigated by Dr Mark Pucci, a clinical pharmacologist at University Hospitals Birmingham Trust, who established that the teenager had taken a substance that included ‘N-pyrrolidino etonitazene', a form of nitazene.

Researchers have relatively little information on how the human body reacts to nitazenes because the drugs have never gone through clinical trials. But as tests have shown they can be 1,000 times more powerful than morphine, they are clearly horrifyingly potent.

‘It was only the quick thinking of his mother that saved him,' Dr Pucci said of the 18-year-old's survival at the time. ‘He went into respiratory and cardiac arrest, so is very lucky to be alive.'

Many others haven't been as fortunate. Between June last year and February 22 this year, there were 76 deaths associated with nitazenes in England, 17 in Scotland and eight in Wales. These included 20 in the West Midlands, 13 in Yorkshire and Humberside, 17 in the east Midlands and east of England, and six in London.

No single city has suffered more from the nitazenes crisis than Birmingham. Justin Varney, the city council's director of public health, recently said that drug deaths in Birmingham last summer were double the usual number.

Among them were Clive Cooper, 38, a heroin user with schizophrenia; Maria Green, who suffered from bipolar disorder, anorexia and depression; Stephen Harrop, 36, who had taken heroin laced with nitazene, as had Michael Iddles, 53.




Simeon McAnoy, 33, a window salesman found unresponsive by paramedics in October. His mother Jackie (right) says nitazenes were found in his system

James Simmons, 38, a labourer, was found dead on June 6. In July, Wayne Purcell, a roofer, died in the same property after injecting nitazene. And Armstrong Tabrey, 27, was found in cardiac arrest in the corridor of shared housing in Erdington.

There was also Simeon McAnoy, 33, a window salesman found unresponsive by paramedics in October. The official cause of his death has yet to be determined by an inquest, but his mother, Jackie, has said that the coroner told her nitazenes were found in his system.

One of the earliest British victims was Cerys Clark, 19, from Middlesbrough. She suffered from chronic back pain caused by scoliosis, a curvature of the spine, and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a rare condition that causes pain in joints which can be dislocated easily.

Cerys was cautious and responsible, having taken prescription painkillers her entire life. So when she was visiting an acquaintance in Manchester in August 2021 and ran out of her normal medication, her mum believes she would not have taken unprescribed pills given to her by the friend - even though she was desperate.

‘But somehow, two counterfeit drugs got into her system - fake Xanax [a tranquiliser] and fake OxyContin [a US synthetic opioid and painkiller] - and they led to her death,' says her mum, Lyndsey, who is a nurse.

The fake Xanax contained a powerful synthetic benzodiazepine called flualprazolam, while the fake OxyContin was laced with N-Pyrrolidino etonitazene - the same substance that nearly claimed the life of the 18-year-old in the West Midlands.

‘There is no way Cerys would have taken something like that deliberately - she'd have had no tolerance to such powerful drugs,' says Lyndsey. ‘They would have been too much for her.'

She adds: ‘I remember once, Cerys even went into a panic when she realised that she had taken a pain med that was slightly out of date. That's how sensible she was.'

Lyndsey suspects Cerys was administered the drugs without her knowledge after later finding out that her male acquaintance had been buying opioids online from the Czech Republic. These medicines appear to have been adulterated.

‘I had been terrified [about] Cerys before she died, and had called her over and over again before eventually he answered her phone,' says Lyndsey. ‘He sounded off his head and was laughing. He said Cerys was asleep and he couldn't wake her up. I told him to call an ambulance but it was 40 minutes before he did.




One of the earliest British victims was Cerys Clark, 19, from Middlesbrough





Her mother suspects Cerys was administered the drugs without her knowledge by a male acquaintance who had been buying opioids online from the Czech Republic

‘I don't feel the police took the case seriously and I feel I never got justice for Cerys's death, either from the people who made the pills or the man who gave them to her. Buying drugs online is dangerous and administering them to someone with a low tolerance to opioids is irresponsible - you can never know exactly what's in them or how strong they are.'

The man died of an overdose in the same flat four months later. ‘He was under investigation, but Greater Manchester police did not chase toxicology results, re-interview him or challenge his multiple versions of events,' says Lyndsey. ‘They did nothing to further the investigation - they didn't even find out why he had Cerys's passport locked in his safe.'

Greater Manchester police said: ‘A man was arrested in connection with [Cerys's] death and was subsequently bailed while inquiries continued to determine if a criminal offence had been committed in relation to the death. The suspect died on December 23, 2021, and as a result, the investigation into the supply of drugs was stopped from a criminal perspective.'

How is it that nitazenes have begun to flood the market in Britain?

Experts are divided on the issue but most point to a Taliban crackdown on poppy production in Afghanistan, which supplies 95 per cent of the heroin used in the UK. 

Farmers were banned from planting poppy seeds last year because of the regime's concerns about the harmful effects of opium - which is taken from the poppy seed capsules - and because it goes against their religious beliefs. There will be no 2024 harvest.

‘That will completely dry up the heroin supply down to Africa and up through Europe over the next 12 months, which means the Chinese synthetic opioid market is going to explode,' says Donna Jones, chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC).

‘It's already happening in America, and heroin addicts there are dying in their thousands because synthetic opioids like fentanyl are 50 times stronger than street heroin. It is tragic.'

Indeed, the NCA believes nitazenes are being produced on mass in illicit labs in China and often enter the UK in the 'post'. 

Tony D'Agostino, a veteran consultant who trains outreach drugs staff, adds: ‘These opioids are cheap and strong, so if [heroin] shortages force up prices, people are going to be driven more and more into using them or into buying opioids online. But they are so powerful, potentially very dangerous and completely unregulated. We could be looking at a perfect storm.'

Another reason for the appearance of nitazenes is a 2019 bilateral agreement between Donald Trump's administration and China to crack down on the production of Chinese fentanyl, which has caused so many deaths in America.

Underground Chinese laboratories, fearful of being caught producing the drug, turned to nitazenes instead.

But production is increasingly moving here. In October last year, police raided addresses in Waltham Forest and Enfield, north London, in which opioids were believed to be being manufactured. Some 150,000 opioid pills containing nitazenes were recovered, and 11 men were arrested.

So far, emetophilia traces of nitazenes have been found in heroin, fake Xanax, diazepam and cannabis on British streets. Megan Jones, director of drug charity Cranstoun, says they could find their way into stimulants such as cocaine, too.

‘Criminals cut a variety of drugs on the same surfaces,' she says. ‘If powdered cocaine were processed where nitazenes have been added to heroin, that could be particularly dangerous. Heroin users would have built up a tolerance to opioids, but users of cocaine, a stimulant, wouldn't. That could be fatal.'

Cranstoun wants the Government to make local testing facilities available so users can check what's in their drugs before they take them.

An analysis of data conducted by retired GP Dr Judith Yates recently found 83 separate instances of nitazenes in drug samples from dozens of towns and cities across the UK since April 2021.

The Home Office said: ‘We are highly alert to the threat from synthetic drugs and have already established a cross-government taskforce to co-ordinate our response to the risk from synthetic opioids to the UK.'

The NCA has also promised to increase its focus on nitazenes. Deputy director Charles Yates told the Mail: ‘Tackling Class A drugs, and synthetic opioids, is a priority for the NCA, policing, Border Force, the Home Office and the Department of Health and Social Care.

‘The NCA, working closely with policing, Border Force and other international partners is ensuring that all lines of enquiry are prioritised and vigorously pursued.'

While 14 nitazenes have been criminalised under the new legisation, Dr Judith Yates says a big problem remains. ‘It's a bit like playing whack-a-mole because each time a nitazene is classified like this, it can be tweaked and made into a legally different substance,' she says.

The fear now is that the high number of West Midlands fatalities ceases to be an exception, and becomes a precursor to a nationwide epidemic.

Along with many other drug experts, Dr Judith Yates is deeply worried: ‘I was around during health concerns when heroin hit the streets in the 1980s, with my patients getting hooked and me trying to keep them alive. Then Aids came along, and then crack, but the threat from nitazenes is far more serious than any of those. They have the potential to kill thousands of innocent people.'


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