Synthetic opioid linked to 113 fatalities in the UK

Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, emerged onto the UK heroin market in the north-east of England in 2016 and has since been linked with 113 UK drug deaths.

Similar to morphine, it was originally created for surgery recovery and treating short-term pain.

The drug became popular in the US and Canada, where it emerged as an additive to heroin supplies.

However, demand for fentanyl on the UK’s streets has not been as extreme as on the other side of the Atlantic.

In the UK, synthetic opioids are class A drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

The NCA said even breathing in or touching “minute quantities” of fentanyl can cause a lethal overdose.

The substance took the life of 18-year-old Robert Fraser, of Kent, in 2016.

He had visited his drug dealer to buy cannabis but was given fentanyl instead.

In one case in England, traces of carfentanyl – which is 100 times more potent than fentanyl and is used as an elephant tranquilliser – were discovered following a postmortem on an overdose victim.

In February Kyle Enos, from Newport, Wales, was jailed for eight years after admitting to importing, supplying and exporting fentanyl purchased from China using the “dark web”.

Cardiff Crown Court was told he made about £23,000 supplying drugs to more than 100 customers in the UK, wider Europe and the US between May 2016 and 2017.

Several of his customers are said to have died from overdoses.