LOCAL authorities are urging people across Argyll and Bute to be extra cautious when purchasing medications online as the rise of unregulated and potentially lethal drugs in counterfeit medications continues to put lives at risk.
Its been revealed that new super-strength drugs linked to hundreds of deaths have been found across the UK in samples of fake medicines intended to treat conditions like anxiety, allergies or sleeping problems.
A total of 278 deaths have now been confirmed as linked to new synthetic opioid drugs called nitazenes in the UK in a year, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Nitazenes were initially developed in the 1950s as painkillers, but due to their extreme potency and high risk of addiction, they have never been approved for medical or therapeutic use. When injected, inhaled, or swallowed, combining nitazenes with other drugs or alcohol poses a severe risk, drastically increasing the chance of overdose and death.
The UK Government is now moving to classify all forms of nitazenes as Class A drugs under new legislation. In March, fifteen specific synthetic opioids were already reclassified to this highest drug category.
Contaminated substances were even identified in Dunoon and Bute following anonymous samples submitted to WEDINOS, the only national drug-checking service in the UK, which analyses and shares information on trends in the illegal market to try to protect people from harm.
It said they looked “in every kind of visible sense, the same kind of packet you might get from your chemist on the high street,” but were “most likely purchased from illicit online pharmacies”.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said the development was “particularly worrying” as “their combined effect increased the risk of overdose significantly”.
