AGENCIES FENTANYL
“I have seen different doctors and they cannot understand how I tolerate the amount I am on.
“The one doctor said he was surprised I could understand what was going on.”
This week drug agencies in Wales admitted they are not ready for an influx of the opioid. At least 60 people have died in the UK in the past eight months because of it and there have been numerous cases in the United States and Canada.
Official figures showed there was one fentanyl death in Wales in 2016. The victim was from Gwynedd.
“It’s a very alarming prospect,” said Clive Wolfendale, chief executive of North Wales drugs charity Cais and former deputy chief constable of North Wales Police.
“There’s no doubt this is a very strong substance and has the potential to do great, great damage.
“Fentanyl isn’t just one drug, there’s a range of drugs that are from the same family. One of the very scary things is how potent a minute amount can be – a pinhead-size can send people off the edge.”
Mr Wolfendale warned fentanyl could become as big as crystal meth.
“We are still playing Russian roulette and we are starting with death,” he said. “A drop of this stuff in anything else and it’s a new ball game. If this does take hold, it becomes a big one.”
While fentanyl is already on the streets experts fear users have no idea they are taking it.
The Welsh Emerging Drugs and Identification of Novel Substances Project – Wedinos – said in the June issue of its newsletter it had tested 22 substances containing fentanyls.
Of six variants they found one was carfentanyl. That is a synthetic 10,000 times more powerful than morphine. It’s used as an elephant tranquilliser.
“We are definitely aware of it, but how to know people are on fentanyl until it is too late is not easy,” said Martin Blakebrough, of drugs charity Kaleidoscope.
“You do not just take fentanyl. Most people are finding it is mixed with heroin. And if you don’t know what you’re taking, it’s a problem.
“It’s causing us concern but it is difficult to know how widespread it is. We have not seen incidents of people just taking fentanyl. You see incidents of people having it in their heroin.”
Mr Blakebrough said he supports the creation of legal consumption rooms where users can safely take illegal drugs.
“We don’t know what we are dealing with most of the time, because people don’t know what they are taking,” he said. “It’s worrying because we do not really know how big the problem is.”
In 2015 NHS Wales issued a patient safety notice warning of the “risk of harm from the inappropriate use and disposal of fentanyl patches”.
It said it had received “reports of life-threatening reactions and fatalities from fentanyl overdose”.
Reasons for this included wearing two patches at once, swallowing them, and patches falling off one person and sticking to another.
The document warned children had fallen victim. They had attached “improperly disposed patches to their body believing the patches to be stickers or plasters”.
“Incidents such as these have been known to occur across NHS Wales,” the document said.
Following deaths in England, Swansea coroner Colin Phillips warned in May that drug users could overdose on fentanyl and carfentanyl.
A Public Health Wales spokeswoman said: “Public Health Wales is aware of ongoing developments in the ever changing drug markets both in Wales and across the UK, and continues to work collaboratively with UK experts to evidence and reduce the potential harms associated with fentanyls and all other drugs.”
This month Kyle Enos, 25, from Maindee Parade, Newport, pleaded guilty to selling and exporting fentanyl using the dark web.
He will appear in court again in December.
Dyfed-Powys Police have made three arrests on suspicion of the pro- duction or supply of fenntanyl as a result of three e warrants.
A National Crime me Agency spokesman said it had “a number of ongoingng investigations looking at the importation, supply and onward distribution of fentaentanyl”.
“Fentanyl and its analoguesogues may be mixed with heroin oin in street deals. These drugs are also purchased from the dark web by individuals who wish too experience their effect as drugs gs in their own right,” a spokesman said. “Illicit supply from Chinese manufacturers anufacturers and distributors constitutesutes a prime source for both synthetic opioids and the precursor chemicals used to manufacture them.
“There is now evidence from recent operational activity that fentanyl, and its analogues, are being manufactured in and exported from the UK.”
Because fentanyl is deadly in tiny amounts mixing it with other drugs is “difficult and dangerous”.
“Often such blending is inconsistent so that the mixture or dose contains ‘hotspots’ or random concentrations of the fentanyl analogue,” the spokesman said.
“If a user consumes such a blended substance which contains these ‘hotspots’ of fentanyl, or one of its analogues, they will experience sudden and severe opioid poisoning, often with fatal consequences.
“The more potent the analogue, the more likely it is that there will be lethal hotspots in any mixture, p particularly if carfentanyl is involved.”.”
A Welsh government spokesmanman said the availability and use of fentantanyl was “being monitored acrossross Wales”.
“Our Wedinos programme also identifies the composition of psychohoactive material and provides advicevice and guidance for all partners, includuding the prison estate, specificallyally when samples are presented for analnalysis.
“Following a confirmed deathh in Wales, in May this year Public Healthalth Wales issued an alert to our stakekeholders outlining the available inforformation relating to fentanyl alongong with appropriate harm reduction ion advice for dissemination.
“An alert like this would be supupplemented by increased awareness, ess, vigilance and naloxone provisionon amongst all relevant health andnd social care professionals.
“We also recently provided inforormation on fentanyl on our DANN 24/7 website, along with harm m reduction advice.”