Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Matthew Weaver

Synthetic opioids previously linked to UK deaths are being ‘advertised for sale on social media’

The logo of the music sharing platform SoundCloud, displayed on a tablet screen
The investigation found almost 3,000 posts on SoundCloud giving audio clips advertising the drugs, with contact details of suppliers shown in track titles. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

Lethal synthetic opioids linked to more than two deaths a week in the UK have been advertised for sale in thousands of posts on social media, an investigation has found.

Suppliers boasted to undercover BBC reporters posing as dealers about how easy it was to use social media to promote nitazenes, an illegal group of drugs several times more powerful than heroin.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.