Asked if anyone was concerned about the rising number of heroin-related deaths, Dr Emily Finch, a senior fellow at the Royal College of Psychiatrists who sits on the government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, told Sky News: “I think it’s a No I think, in general, the general population does. “I think a lot of people, and maybe that’s reflected in the government, don’t really care and that’s why they’ve allowed a treatment system to atrophy to a great extent. “Some people care, there are good reasons to care: heroin users spend a lot of time in the hospital, they cost us a lot of money, some of them commit crime. These are all good reasons why we support them properly, we bring them up. quality treatment, would probably end up saving society money.” Image: Dr Emily Finch says more support is needed for heroin addicts It comes as the latest ONS figures show that 4,859 deaths related to drug poisoning were recorded in 2021 in England and Wales, equivalent to a rate of 84.4 deaths per million people. This is 6.2% higher than the rate recorded in 2020. About half of all drug poisoning deaths recorded in 2021 involved an opioid, with the opioid rate likely affected by the pandemic, as a large number of rough sleepers were affected. Delays in death certificate entries mean these deaths will cover 2020-2021. A government spokesman said: “Our landmark drugs strategy will help rebuild drug treatment and recovery services to better support people through recovery, as well as tackle the criminal supply chains that fuel the illicit drug trade. But drug charities are warning heroin users of the high risk after a number of deaths reported across the country, with batches of the class A drug suspected to have been mixed with synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. Drug dealers have been accused of inflating heroin to make more profit, despite knowing the compound is potentially deadly. Lawrence Gibbons, head of the drug threat at the National Crime Agency, said: “Drug dealers pose a serious threat to our communities as they exploit vulnerable people for their own financial gain. “To increase profits, organized crime groups are known to adulterate Class A drugs with highly potent synthetic opioids, hundreds of times stronger than heroin, which can cause fatal overdoses.” Drug dealers who commit “murder” for profit Bev, a former addict who lost many friends to heroin overdoses, told Sky News the pushers were committing “murder”. “People are dying because the dealers are mixing it up with God knows what chemical they can find,” he said. “Because of the weight? So they can make a profit? “It’s murder. You know people die from something you’ve given them, that’s murder.” Breaking down in tears, she described what it was like to lose a close friend to the drug. She was sharing a hostel with her friend, who collapsed from a seizure after taking heroin. “I don’t think you’ll ever get over it,” he said. “Literally, watching someone take their last breath and not being able to talk to them again, not being able to apologize because we had an argument. “If you knew it was the last time you were going to talk to them, you would have acted differently.” Image: Bev has blamed drug dealers for her friends’ deaths “I’m a qualified sous-chef, now I can’t even find 50p to buy a can of coke” Another user known as Jungle said the drug had ruined his life. He said he was so concerned about the safety of the heroin now being sold on the streets of cities across the country that he had switched to prescription methadone to wean himself off the deadly drug. He says he’s been losing close friends to heroin overdoses every week since last November. “I want to stop using heroin because it has ruined my life. I have three beautiful children, I was married to their mother for 14 years, I am a certified sous chef, my dad was a doctor, you know? And look at me, I can’t even find 50p to buy a can of coke sometimes.’ Image: Jungle is using prescription drugs to try to wean herself off heroin More people die from opioid abuse in the UK than anywhere else in Europe, and the number has been rising for a decade. At the same time, drug services had their budgets cut by about a third. It means drug support services have fewer tools to help an increasingly elderly and vulnerable community. In the North West alone, drug-related deaths have increased by 77% in the past decade. “Easier to score heroin than to take a taxi” John Wilkinson has stopped taking drugs but describes himself as “still addicted”. After 27 years on class A drugs, he knows how easy it would be for him to relapse. John is now using his experience to help other addicts on the streets of Wigan. It is working with drug, alcohol and mental health charity With You to educate rough sleepers and members of the community who are likely to come into contact with an addict who has overdosed on what life-saving action they can take to do. He says he is in control of his life now. Image: John is a former drug user “My life is my life now,” he said. “I get up in the morning and do what I want to do, not what the drugs want. When I was on heroin, I didn’t shower and people think it’s because I don’t want to shower. “It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s because the heroin doesn’t want me. I’ll wake up and go score. I’ll come back from what I’m doing and then go score again.” John says that “it’s easier to score heroin than to get a taxi in Wigan”, so drugs are freely available. He also says he’s never seen so many people die from heroin overdoses. “I could give you a long list of names if I wrote them down, everyone I know who has died from this. I’m lucky to be alive after all this drug abuse.” John warns that everyone should take the menace of heroin seriously as it can affect any community. “People love these people. They’re somebody’s son and daughter and uncles and aunts.”
