Change drug policy or risk more poisoning deaths, the British government has warned

Drug addiction experts have warned that the government must take a different approach to illicit substance use or risk an increasing number of deaths from drug poisoning.

Data published by the Office for National Statistics last week showed the number of people dying from drug poisoning had reached an all-time high.

There were 5,448 deaths in 2023, an increase of over 11% since 2022, the previous highest year on record, with nearly half of these deaths due to opioids. The worst affected areas were North East and North West England and Wales.

Prof. Fiona Measham, professor of criminology at the University of Liverpool and founder of The Loop, a national drug testing organisation, believes deaths will continue to rise until open drug testing becomes more normalised.

“It’s become very clear that we can’t just ban things, because the drugs we ban are just being replaced by more and more powerful drugs,” she said. “We have to think outside the box.”

In Britain, on-site testing of medicines is possible, but organizations wishing to do this must apply for a license from the Home Office. Festival organizers have previously complained that this could take months and cost thousands of euros.

The Loop runs drug testing services across the country, including at festivals such as Parklife, which were told last year they would need to get a new license at short notice. The group also opened England’s first regular drug testing service in Bristol earlier this year, and Measham hopes the positive effects seen there can be replicated in other cities where drug abuse is rife.

“I would say it should be rolled out in other cities, and I hope it will be,” Measham said. “I have lived in Manchester for over thirty years, I work in Liverpool and I hope these are some of the cities where drug testing takes place because these are some of the places most affected by drug-related deaths.”

The recent rise in opioid deaths has been attributed in part to the increased prevalence of synthetic opioids, which are increasingly common on the streets.

Synthetic opioids are much stronger than regular opioids, with an increased risk of overdose. The synthetic opioid nitazene has been found in heroin, amphetamines and vapes, with children in Middlesbrough requiring treatment with the opioid antagonist naloxone after using a black market vapor earlier this year.

According to last week’s data, the North East as a whole had the highest number of drug-related deaths of all the English regions and Wales.

George Charlton, a Durham-based consultant who works in addiction care, says that despite evidence that an empathetic approach to drug use has worked abroad, Britain remains resistant.

“We know that there are 20 countries around the world that use drug spaces, and not one death has occurred in any of those spaces,” he said. “People go in there to use everything in a safe way, with medical staff at hand. If we know something works, why don’t we do it? It amazes me that we know what the solutions are, but we don’t implement them.”

In January, a spokesperson for the Conservative government’s Home Office said: “We do not support the introduction of drug consumption areas in England and Wales due to significant concerns that they risk encouraging drug use.”

Charlton, a former user who says his life has been saved from overdose several times, believes the stigma against users makes it harder for them to get professional help.

‘We have been conditioned for so long to believe that these people are scum of the earth, but they are not. They are someone’s son, someone’s daughter. Everyone is someone’s someone.”

A spokesperson for the current government said: “The number of drug-related deaths is tragically at record highs and this new government is determined to tackle this problem. We are also very alert to the threat of emerging synthetic drugs.”

“We will work together across health, police and wider public services to reduce drug use, including synthetic opioids, and make our streets safer.”