Greater Manchester Police to carry antidote to super-strength drugs

Police in Greater Manchester are to carry an antidote to super-strength drugs which can be hundreds of times more potent than heroin.

Officers will take part in a pilot scheme amid the increasing dangers of synthetic opiates called nitazenes, which law enforcement agencies say, have been linked to more than 100 deaths in the UK.

Nitazenes have been found mixed into other street drugs and it is also feared they may be consumed unwittingly by people purchasing what appear to be prescription medications, like diazepam, from online suppliers in places like China.

Detective Superintendent Joe Harrop said: "We have launched a drug strategy which is about prevention, treatment and diversion.

"We are looking at launching a pilot where some officers in high risk drug areas would carry naloxone which is an antidote to opioids.

"At the moment there is little evidence to say nitazenes use is widespread in Manchester but there is a national issue with it. I do imagine it will get more widespread."

In April, the government classified 15 types of nitazenes as Class A drugs, with the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs warning they are highly addictive and pose a greater risk of overdose."There is a risk," added Det Supt Harrop, "people think they are ordering diazepam, valium, or other controlled drugs online that they are buying from China, that's not necessarily what they are getting in the post, which does link in with the nitazenes threat."Nitazenes were first developed in the 1950s, but never approved for sale. Their re-emergence has been put down to China's crackdown on fentanyl, a synthetic opioid estimated to have caused 75,000 deaths in the US in 2022, and problems with heroin supplies caused by the Taliban's ban on harvesting opium poppies in Afghanistan.