New legislation introduced to curb rising synthetic drugs threat

Measures are being stepped up across government to better equip policing, healthcare and Border Force to deal with this growing issue, as well as contributing to international efforts to better protect communities.

Latest figures show since June 2023, there have been at least 400 drug-related deaths across the UK linked to nitazenes, a type of synthetic opioid, and this figure is expected to increase in the coming years.

Legislation will come into force today which bans xylazine, as well as several other synthetic drugs that can be hundreds of times more potent than heroin, meaning tougher sentences for drug dealers.

Xylazine, often known as ‘tranq’, is a high-strength veterinary sedative, which has increasingly been used in combination with opioids such as heroin. Its effects can leave users prone to non-healing skin lesions and more liable to overdose.

The UK is also training Border Force dogs to detect a range of nitazenes and fentanyl – currently the only country in the world doing so –to stop these substances entering the country in the first place.

And as of December 2024, police officers in forces across the country are now trained to carry and administer naloxone – a lifesaving medicine that reverses the effects of opioid overdose. The Government is working closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to see the provision rolled out across most forces.

The National Crime Agency is also working in partnership with policing and Border Force to ensure that all lines of inquiry are prioritised and “vigorously pursued” to stem any supply of nitazenes and fentanyl to and within the UK, the Home Office said.

Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson said: “Synthetic drugs cause devastation wherever they are found – to individuals, to families, to our town centres and our communities.

“I have been concerned about the growing presence of these drugs on UK streets and I don’t think enough has been done in recent years to get a grip on it. Stepping up efforts to tackle this threat will form a key part of this government’s approach to drugs, which we hope to set out later this year.

“As part of our Plan for Change and mission to make our streets safer, we are dedicated to driving down drug misuse and harms through prevention and treatment while acting quickly to stop the criminals peddling these harmful substances.”

As part of the international effort to combat these substances, the UK is spearheading a workstream under the US-led Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats, which will focus on how governments across the world can control the availability of these drugs through legislation and further strengthen efforts at the border by sharing intelligence.

This is a multi-nation effort run by core coalition countries, which are developing their own initiatives that aim to disrupt supply chains and enhance public health interventions.

The Government also has an enhanced early warning system, which is designed to improve the UK’s ability to respond to emerging drug threats with several new data streams, such as hospital admissions and lab-tested police seizures, which are monitored and fed into the decision-making processes.

The new legislation will see 22 substances banned under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, six of which will be controlled as Class A.

This means that anyone caught producing or supplying these could now face up to life in prison, an unlimited fine, or both. Anyone caught possessing a Class A drug can also face up to seven years in prison, a fine or both.

Xylazine will be controlled as a Class C substance, meaning its unlawful supply carries a maximum sentence of up to 14 years in prison, a fine or both and unlawful possession up to two years, a fine or both.

A generic definition of nitazenes, a type of synthetic opioid, has also been introduced into law, which will prevent drug gangs from trying to make adjustments to drug recipes to attempt to bypass UK drug law.

Association of Police and Crime Commissioners addiction and substance misuse leads, David Sidwick and Joy Allen, said: “We welcome the Home Office’s action in banning further synthetic opioids to prevent drug-related deaths.

“The Government will no longer be faced with having to react as new synthetic opioids emerge. Each new variant of these drugs causes serious health harms, with users at risk of overdosing as well as the contribution they make to drug-related criminal offending.

Police and crime commissioners (PCCs) are very aware of this growing problem and are deeply concerned by troubling reports of deaths in this country linked to these drugs. Although we aren’t seeing the terrible effects witnessed across the Atlantic, there is no room for complacency.

“As leaders of our local Combating Drugs Partnerships, we are encouraging our partners in public health to raise awareness of the threat these drugs pose. The recent increase in access to the counter-overdose antidote naloxone is helping to reverse the effects of an increasing number of opioid overdoses, preventing avoidable drug deaths, including those associated with new variations of synthetic drugs.

“We strongly advocated for the expansion of the use of naloxone across police forces but, as important as this is, we are clear we must do everything we can to prevent people using illegal drugs in the first place, and to get those who are using opioids into evidence-based treatment and on the road to recovery.

“That’s why PCCs are working closely with government and locally with partners to redouble our efforts to cut supply through robust enforcement, whilst improving the pathways from policing, probation, and prisons into the treatment services that can get people’s lives back on track.

“If we succeed in this, we also cut crime and reduce reoffending.”