6 new trends in drug deaths – and what they say about modern Britain

The latest drug poisoning statistics for England and Wales have just been published. For someone who follows these things, they're never fun to read, but this year they're particularly sobering. Total deaths rose to 5,448 in 2023 – a continuation of an annual increase since 2012, when a 21st century low of 2,597 people were lost to illicit substances.

The situation mirrors that of Scotland – whose own drug poisonings rose by a staggering 12 percent this year – and casts a reflection on a British society recently described as the “literally sick man of Europe” in a cross-party commission into the country's health.

So what do the details tell us about our green and pleasant land, other than the fact that we really like being dangerously smashed? To find out, VICE spoke to three pharmaceutical industry experts.

Cocaine: The deadly people's powder

Beak. Horn. Gak. gear. Whatever you call it, Britain loves it, and the rise in cocaine-related deaths was the most striking finding from this year's statistics, rising by 30.5 percent just a year (from 857 in 2022 to 1,118 in 2023). This continues the upward trend: in 2011 there were only 112 deaths related to coke.

All you have to do is look at the promo for Danny Dyer's new movie marching powder– in which he plays an aging football hooligan desperately struggling to quit coke (as well as masturbation, etc.). Fifa) – to observe Britain's toxic-addictive relationship with this stuff. It is also worth noting that men of the generation

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Importantly, Harry Sumnall, professor of substance use at Liverpool John Moores University, points out that these statistics do not distinguish between crack and cocaine. “But a significant proportion of these deaths are linked to and directly related to powder cocaine,” he says.

The Sisyphean nature of cocaine and its hand-in-hand with other substances, particularly alcohol, are certainly part of the appeal of a British culture that The Sesh has created.

As the quality has increased, so has the harm of cocaine. In 20019, average road cleanliness was just 20 percent, while a 2018 report put it at 63 percent. Today, many street or online retailers offer a range of strengths ranging up to near 100 percent proof. “From a consumer perspective, it’s higher quality,” says Sumnall. “But you're exposed to a higher strength over a longer period of time, and that's going to have a more toxic effect.”

Drugs of desperation, withdrawal of services

Traditionally, about half of all drug-related deaths are due to opiates. This trend continues: in 2023 they claimed 2,551 lives – 12.8 percent more than in the previous year.

For the first time, we've also seen a truly significant presence of nitazene: the synthetic opioid is said to be hundreds of times more powerful than fentanyl, which has been linked to at least 248 deaths since June 2023, according to the National Crime Agency.

Opiates and opioids are often, perhaps insensitively, referred to as “drugs of despair.” So it's perhaps not surprising that the Northeast — where deindustrialization has led to jobs and opportunities — has seen the highest rate of opiate and opioid deaths every year for 11 years. This year the rate is three times higher than London.

“Drug-related deaths are socioeconomically driven,” says Sumnall, adding that “the public health challenge is a general challenge of making cities and communities healthier.” Austerity-based policies have decimated the drug supply, and while he is increasing drug testing of 2021 Professor Dame Carol Black praises the additional £552m as “not enough because it basically just takes us back to where we should have been had there been no cuts in funding and increased patterns of claims.”

Ketamine: the breakup drug for an era of breakup

Despite being hidden in the underwear of every raver from Block9 to Berghain, for some reason ketamine is traditionally not included in annual drug death statistics. Yet the number of Ket-using adults reporting to treatment services has increased fivefold. Usage has skyrocketed: in 2022/23, 3.8 percent of 16- to 24-year-olds sniffed it (up from 1 percent in 2016). Analysis of deaths from 2005 to 2019 found that they increased from about 5 per year at the start of that period to about 30 per year after 2016.

Adam Waugh is co-founder of PsyAware, a support organization for psychedelic users and practitioners. While he clarifies that “the vast majority of users will not experience harm,” he warns that “ketamine can be addictive.”

Ketamine's other secret sauce is its dissociative properties, which may make it a perfect drug for the post-pandemic doom-scroll era. “The impact of the last five years – with COVID-19 and its disruption to young people’s lives, not to mention the increasing ubiquity of devices – has made everything less connected,” says Waugh. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that some of the drugs that are being used more and more, including ketamine, are breakup drugs.

“It allows you to block out emotional pain.”

Prescription not fulfilled

In addition to ketamine, Waugh also includes benzodiazepines and other commonly prescribed anxiolytics (anxiety medications) in his range of irritating substances for a detached era. These include drugs such as diazepam, alprazolam (Xanax) or pregabalin, and benzos saw a very slight increase in this year's death data (from 512 to 509).

Whether it's a restless sleeper using multiple prescription drugs like heroin, crack, or alcohol, a college student self-medicating anxiety, or a raver trying to fall asleep after a night of drinking, taking these Medication has never been easier or more normal. A quick scan of Telegram finds pills starting at around £1 each, while buying a blister pack of 30 pills brings the unit price down to 75p. This makes them cheap enough to weather a cost-of-living crisis, while conveniently alleviating the many ills of a disadvantaged society and exuding an aura of respectability.

“They can feel more legitimate in some ways,” says Ian Hamilton, associate professor of addiction at the University of York. “People may think that because they are taking a prescription drug it is safer, but of course that is no guarantee at all because it depends on who is distributing it.”

“They are not as stigmatized as a drug like heroin, and you can take them discreetly.”

Previously, illegally sold prescription drugs were typically original products diverted from pharmaceutical facilities. Waugh says these days they are often made in India or China – a counterfeit branded blister pack of Bensedin-diazepam or the opiate oxycodone is often a lottery given the actual contents. WEDINOS, the Welsh drug testing service, has found the deadly synthetic opioid Nitazene in both substances in recent months.

Is the message about highly effective pills getting through?

The number of MDMA-related deaths rose from 51 in 2022 to 79 in 2023 – a 35 percent increase. London nightclub Fabric recently reported a number of hospitalizations due to highly potent pills, a report backed up by drug control agency The Loop, which issued a warning last weekend that one in four ecstasy pills they tested contained more than 200 mg contained – about twice the standard adult dose.

After a Covid-induced slump in MDMA and Ecstasy strength, these new corneal-rattling Gurners pose a challenge for harm reduction services and drug workers trying to educate people about the new rules – most importantly, starting with a quarter. But is the great British public listening?

“It seems to me that most people who take pills know about the strength and are pretty responsible,” says Waugh. Of the 79 deaths, 40 were under 30 and 16 of those were under 20. “There is a subgroup that is still taking pills in a very harmful way,” he says.

Alcohol: the most harmful drug of all?

With the increase in cocaine-related deaths, the tendency of heroin users to have used or abused alcohol in the past, and recent statistics showing alcohol-related deaths reaching a record 10,048 in 2022, the question remains: Is alcohol? – great calmer of social fears, cornerstone of “democracy” – Britain’s most harmful drug of all?

“I would say that,” says Ian Hamilton. “We have had a real problem since the pandemic. During Covid there were about three groups: a third of people who were abstinent and practically continued. A third that you would describe as moderate have increased slightly. Then there is the final third, who have already drunk risky amounts and drank even more. It’s unlikely to work and that’s the group I’m really worried about.”

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