> What’s the challenge?The biggest challenge facing the substance misuse sector today is the continuing rise of drug related deaths, particularly deaths from opioid overdose. Increasingly, this occurs when injecting heroin which has been cut with synthetic opiates – such as fentanyl – which can be up to 100 times stronger than heroin. Recently, there have been news reports from Afghanistan where the Taliban’s war on drugs has seen the production of opium cut by 80%. As opium from Afghanistan provides 95% of the heroin market in Europe, we face the very real threat that powerful, synthetic opioids could soon be flooding UK markets in the form of adulterants in street heroin. |
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| Since 2010, numerous warnings have been communicated by National and International Health Organisations regarding the emergence of these powerful synthetic opioids, most notably across North America and Canada where deaths from fentanyl overdoses have reached epidemic levels. For example, in the US, the number of people dying from opioid overdose increased by 120% between 2010 and 2018, with two-thirds of these deaths involving either fentanyl or fentanyl analogues. |  |
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Increases in drug overdose deaths in the US accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 12-month period ending in Feb 2020 there were 74,185 deaths. This figure rose dramatically, on a month-by-month basis, with an estimated 81,230 deaths occurring in the 12-months ending May 2020. Reduced supply of opium from the Middle-East, coupled with the relative ease with which criminal gangs can produce synthetic opioids, it seems only a matter of time before the devastation currently sweeping across North America arrives on the doorstep of Europe and the UK. |
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> Meeting the challengeAt the very highest level, government agencies are attempting to disrupt the supply chain of precursor chemicals used in the production of fentanyl, many of which originate from companies based in China. In a recent visit to China, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken raised this issue with China’s foreign minister Qin Gang, and emphasised the need for the two countries to work together to ‘stop international drug trafficking organisations from getting precursor chemicals’. At a local level, treatment service providers across the UK are working hard to minimise the risk to clients through awareness raising campaigns, assertive outreach and harm reduction interventions and careful monitoring of the most vulnerable client groups. This includes the ability to quickly respond to reports of contaminated batches of drugs and alert those most at risk of exposure. |
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Robust Naloxone dispensation programmes are already in place and are proving effective in reversing overdoses – however, the threat of heroin contaminated with fentanyl and other synthetic opioids presents significant risks for injecting drug users (IDUs), as the levels of potency are often so high that overdose can occur rapidly, sometimes taking hold before the user has finished injecting their dose. Some local authority areas have formal drug alert or early warning systems in place – others have more informal systems in place in the form of peer-led groups or recovery networks that fulfil the drug alert function. Nevertheless, the core elements of a local drug information system (LDIS) are similar, namely that it uses consistent and efficient processes for sharing and assessing information, issues warnings where needed and helps ensure up-to-date and effective information reaches the right people in a timely manner. |
> How can ILLY help?In the last few years we have seen how COVID has had a huge impact across our communities, and how services working to support the most vulnerable people in our society have had to adapt quickly and develop innovative new ways to engage clients and keep them safe and informed. It is this “focus on safety” that many services have integrated into their local alert systems. Key to this have been implementing operational and technical processes which ae both practical and proactive:
At ILLY we have been working with our partners to help ensure that all the client data and information that they need to quickly identify specific client cohorts is acurrate and obtainable with minimal fuss. Where the client needs to be contacted – either by phone or text message – this is easily accomplished through standard functionality we provide within CarePath: |
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As we continue to evolve our processes and tools, we also continue to engage our communities and support them to meet the various challenges posed by events occurring at a global scale, or challenges specific to a local area. Tackling emerging risks may involve enhanced processes for mass communication to large client groups. If you would like to know more information on how ILLY can help facilitate this process then please contact us using the details below. |
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+44 (0)20 4566 5727 |
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