Drugs

More people are dying from nitazenes – we risk repeating the US fentanyl crisis
Ant Lehane

More people are dying from nitazenes – we risk repeating the US fentanyl crisis

America holds a warning for how bad the synthetic opioid crisis can get. It’s time to act before we sleepwalk into an emergency, writes Cranstoun’s Ant Lehane

Number of deaths from nitazenes increases fourfold in two years – but true number may never be known
Drug deaths

Number of deaths from nitazenes increases fourfold in two years – but true number may never be known

Official statistics show 271 deaths from nitazenes in 2024. But those on the frontline tell Big Issue the true scale of the emergency could be even worse

Scotland faces growing nitazenes threat as it grapples with drugs deaths crisis
Drugs

Scotland faces growing nitazenes threat as it grapples with drugs deaths crisis

Scotland is fighting to lose the unwanted title of Europe’s drug deaths capital. But a new threat from synthetic opioids is making it harder to save lives

Revealed: Why Greater Manchester Police refuses to give life-saving overdose drug to officers
Drugs

Revealed: Why Greater Manchester Police refuses to give life-saving overdose drug to officers

Manchester police ‘encouraged’ to give officers life-saving naloxone after Big Issue reporting
Drugs

Manchester police ‘encouraged’ to give officers life-saving naloxone after Big Issue reporting

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Pressure grows on police forces to reverse their refusal to equip officers with life-saving naloxone
Drugs

Pressure grows on police forces to reverse their refusal to equip officers with life-saving naloxone

The excuses don’t wash. All police officers must be allowed to carry naloxone
Meg Jones

The excuses don’t wash. All police officers must be allowed to carry naloxone

Police could stop opioid deaths with this drug. So why do some UK forces stop officers carrying it?
Drug deaths

Police could stop opioid deaths with this drug. So why do some UK forces stop officers carrying it?

Put drug overdose kits in pubs, train stations and shopping centres to save homeless peoples’ lives
Drugs

Put drug overdose kits in pubs, train stations and shopping centres to save homeless peoples’ lives

I was homeless and an addict as a teen. I hope my life can help people have a little more empathy
Lorna Tucker

I was homeless and an addict as a teen. I hope my life can help people have a little more empathy

Dozens use UK’s first drugs consumption room in opening weeks – but ‘barriers’ still remain
Drugs

Dozens use UK’s first drugs consumption room in opening weeks – but ‘barriers’ still remain

Pete Doherty: ‘Living without heroin was very hard to imagine’
Letter To My Younger Self

Pete Doherty: ‘Living without heroin was very hard to imagine’

Inside the UK’s first drugs consumption room – and how it can save lives amid soaring drug deaths
Drugs

Inside the UK’s first drugs consumption room – and how it can save lives amid soaring drug deaths

‘Love is the most powerful emotion there is’: Artist Opake on homelessness, addiction and Christmas
Art

‘Love is the most powerful emotion there is’: Artist Opake on homelessness, addiction and Christmas

Nitazenes are claiming homeless lives. Here’s how one group is fighting the deadly threat
Opinion

Nitazenes are claiming homeless lives. Here’s how one group is fighting the deadly threat

Criminal gangs are taking control of vulnerable people’s homes and using them as drug dens
Crime

Criminal gangs are taking control of vulnerable people’s homes and using them as drug dens

Nitazenes: Harm reduction advice to help keep safe
Drugs

Nitazenes: Harm reduction advice to help keep safe

Meet the only scientist who knows just how bad the UK’s drug deaths crisis truly is
Drugs

Meet the only scientist who knows just how bad the UK’s drug deaths crisis truly is

Labour can stop more vulnerable people dying from drugs like nitazenes – if it wants. Here’s how
Luke O'Neil

Labour can stop more vulnerable people dying from drugs like nitazenes – if it wants. Here’s how

MPs on all sides call for action on nitazenes after Big Issue exposes Britain’s drug deaths crisis
Nitazenes

MPs on all sides call for action on nitazenes after Big Issue exposes Britain’s drug deaths crisis

Drug deaths at highest level since records began – and experts say it’s going to get worse
Drugs

Drug deaths at highest level since records began – and experts say it’s going to get worse

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So-called ‘deaths of despair’ are rising in the UK. Labour must act on this silent epidemic
James Rose

So-called ‘deaths of despair’ are rising in the UK. Labour must act on this silent epidemic

The inside story of nitazenes and the drug deaths crisis rocking Britain: ‘No one is talking about it’
Nitazenes

The inside story of nitazenes and the drug deaths crisis rocking Britain: ‘No one is talking about it’

Chart-topping DJ Sigala: ‘I’m looking after myself after seeing where it went wrong for Avicii’
Music

Chart-topping DJ Sigala: ‘I’m looking after myself after seeing where it went wrong for Avicii’

‘When I first went inside I wanted to die’: What life’s like inside a UK women’s prison
Prisons

‘When I first went inside I wanted to die’: What life’s like inside a UK women’s prison