Drug ‘200 times stronger than heroin’ on London’s streets may have k!lled 13 people

Every morning, volunteers Elodie Berland and Jon Glackin walk around Keir Starmers constituency offering hot drinks and meals to rough sleepers. As part of the charity Streets Kitchen, they are used to difficult sights and stories on the streets. But for months, both volunteers and those they help have been living on edge amid fears that at least 13 people have been k!lled by a new fatal drug, cychlorphine. The synthetic opioid is said to be 200 times stronger than heroin and has been mixed into other hard drugs and counterfeit pharmaceuticals circulating in the capital. More often than not, we are now wondering which friend we have lost after hearing another tale that someone has overdosed, Elodie said. Metropolitan Police confirmed that three people d!ed within one month in Camden after taking the drug: a man in his 50s on October 30, a woman in her 40s on November 14, and a man in his 40s on November 23. Officers have arrested and charged 11 people in connection with distributing synthetic opioids such as cychlorphine, following major enforcement operations in the Camden area. In reality, the number of de@ths linked to the substance is believed to be significantly higher. Around 13 people are estimated to have d!ed in London over the last year, according to the charity Change Grow Live (CGL). An inquest report also revealed that a man named Oscar Brown died in March after consuming the drug, with an additional 10 people taken to hospital that same day from the same supply. Buyers are rarely seeking cychlorphine directly. As a white powder, dealers have been using it to bulk up heroin or produce counterfeit pharmaceutical drugs such as oxycodone. Charity workers warn that it has also appeared in cocaine supplies, and cross-contamination in production labs, believed to be in India or China, is likely. The chemical structure of cychlorphine is only a slight modification of nitazines and other synthetic opioids. After the Taliban banned opioid production in Afghanistan, there was a significant reduction in global heroin output, prompting criminal networks to find alternative substances to meet demand. It is suspected that cychlorphine is manufactured in China and India, with compounds altered to avoid falling under existing bans. The drug is also easy to smuggle due to lack of strong odour, meaning sniffer dogs struggle to detect it at checkpoints. CGL warned that coroners and hospitals are not routinely testing for synthetic opioids, meaning deaths are likely under-recorded. The information that is out there on cychlorphine is limited, we really do not know much about it yet, the charity said. The Metropolitan Police charged 11 individuals with conspiring to supply Class A drugs linked to cychlorphine. During raids, officers seized significant quantities of Class A and B substances, 36 bottles of codeine, over 20,000 in cash, 11,000 in gold bullion and multiple weapons, including a sawn-off shotgun. Streets Kitchen volunteers said information about the drug should have been shared months ago, and that Camden is often treated as a testing ground for new substances due to high levels of addiction and homelessness. They warned that vulnerable and homeless individuals are at particular risk from contaminated supplies. CGL continues to encourage drug users to carry naloxone, a life-saving medication capable of reversing opioid overdoses. The charity said that accidental exposure is increasingly likely as cychlorphine is being mixed into other drugs and purchased through everyday platforms rather than the dark web. The reality of the situation is it is just like any other drug, CGL stated.The post Drug 200 times stronger than heroin on Londons streets may have k!lled 13 people appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.