Warning over drug that makes heroin 10 times stronger being sold for 10p a pill

15 December 2023 , 08:25

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A case full of benzodiazepenes used for testing in the lab (Image: Sky News)

Warnings have been issued over a 10p illegal drug that make substances like heroin ultra strong and can easily cause overdose when mixed together.

Professor Chris Pudney says the drug class of benzodiazepenes, which are available with a doctor's prescription and used to treat anxiety, are more addictive than heroin and they make opiates, like heroin, fentanyl, morphine and codeine, as much as 10 times stronger.

The professor said there has been a sharp surge in the number of people abusing the substance, which could result in a wave of deaths. Urgent action is needed to protect addicts and recreational users, he says.

Of all the issues the highest risk comes from mixing Benzos with synthetic opioids called nitazenes. Nitazenes have been discovered recently, with drugs services up and down the UK warning of their fatal risk. Though little is known about the exact potency, some tests show they can be as much as 100 times stronger than already deadly heroin.

Professor Chris Pudney speaks of the risk of using benzos with synthetic opioids (Sky News)

Benzos can be as cheap as 10p per pill (Sky News)

The University of Bath professor told Sky News: "So the thing that we really started to see is the rise of synthetic opioids being present in benzodiazepines. And the thing that really worries us about those drugs is that you need so little to cause death. With synthetic opioids, the challenge is that the class called nitazines have really become prevalent in the UK. They're even ten times stronger than fentanyl, and fentanyl is even ten times stronger than heroin. And we can think about the deaths being incredibly high."

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Addiction service Change Grow Live shared a statement to the users under its care, clarifying what nitazenes are and how dangerous they can be. It reads: "New opioids have arrived in the UK in the last two years, called "nitazenes". They have recently been found mixed with heroin, with some being sold as illicit oxycodone pills or even Xanax powders. Nitazenes can be at least as strong as fentanyl and can be hundreds of times more potent than heroin. They are known to have led to accidental overdoses and deaths of people in several areas across the UK in the last few weeks."

Rory was sold benzos illegally when he was just 16 years old (Sky News)

Professor Pudney continued: "We've now actually got something here that's even stronger than that. And so the real worry is that not only have you got something that - in amounts that you wouldn't believe, or not even observable to the eye - can kill a human being. Now, it's also mixed with another drug that is depressant. You can imagine, that you can very easily just stop breathing. And that will be the outcome if someone consumes both of these drugs They're even ten times stronger than fentanyl, and fentanyl is even ten times stronger than heroin. And we can think about the problem the US has with fentanyl deaths being incredibly high. We've now actually got something here that's even stronger than that.

"And so the real worry is that not only have you got something that - in amounts that you wouldn't believe, or not even observable to the eye - can kill a human being. Now, it's also mixed with another drug that is depressant. You can imagine, that you can very easily just stop breathing."

Mixing benzos with synthetic opioids can make the latter deadly substance as much as 10 times stronger (Sky News)

Some benzos like Xanax were popularised by US hip hop artists (Sky News)

Some of the most common benzodiazepines are diazepam (Valium) and alprazolam (Xanax), which have been popularised by US hip hop artists in recent years. However, they are needed in clinical settings to treat severe insomnia and anxiety. Unscrupulous dealers manage to bypass the official prescribing system and they've now become one of the most widely-used recreational substances in the UK. Some less popular benzos cost just 10p per pill, while those in higher demand sell for around £1-2 each.

Dr Gabriel Shaya, a consultant in Addiction Medicine at the charity Turning Point, said: "Developing benzodiazepine addiction or dependence inherently makes anxiety worse. People who go through a phase of withdrawal when they stop taking it, get rebound anxiety symptoms, which only makes mental health worse. So it's not uncommon to see increased depression rates or increased rates of depression. And ultimately, that can lead to suicide."

Drug deaths involving benzos has doubled to around 10 per week since 2012, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Some say the threefold surge in people seeking treatment for benzo addiction in the past three years is due to the crisis in the country's mental health support, with many people being choosing to self-medicate rather than wait a year or more for support.

Speaking to Sky News, benzo addict Christopher - who managed to break his addiction to heroin and crack - says that he has never been able to shake his benzos habit, and that it's so "easy" to take them, he could "do 1,000 tomorrow. You can take the wrong kind, the mixture could kill you," Christopher says. "Do you know what I mean? It's Russian roulette." When asked whether the thought of dying from the pills would make him stop, he said: "It used to, it used to. But not now. Nah it doesn't bother me. It doesn't bother me. I just don't care. I just like my benzos. If I can get them, I get them."

Ryan Fahey