‘Every Time I Take It Now I’m Scared’ – Horrifying Reality Facing Liverpool’s Drug Users

Special report: As batches of highly potent and hugely dangerous synthetic opiates circulate in the region, those trapped in addiction on the streets are staring death in the face each time they use repots the Liverpool Echo.

“It was like the exorcist, my body was rejecting everything. Then I woke up in the hospital.” These are the words of Paul. He’s 46, homeless and has been using heroin for the past decade. Last week he was moments from death. He came to smoke the drug as he does most days, but immediately felt something was different. “As soon as I smoked it, it was like a whole different world,” he explains. He says he began violently projectile vomiting like he had never done before, before losing consciousness and waking up in the Royal Liverpool Hospital having been taken there by his cousin. Paul, who is originally from Huyton but now beds down in Liverpool city centre each night, believes he is one of many victims of a contaminated batch of heroin that has been circulating in Merseyside and is linked to two deaths and many overdoses, largely within the region’s homeless and rough sleeper communities.

The Echo first revealed in late April that the dangerous drugs were present in the region after they were linked to the death of a 62-year-old man in Southport. Earlier this month we reported on a second linked death in the Wirral area after the contaminated batch was discovered there. A man has now been charged with drug offences linked to the investigation into the contaminated batch. The Cheshire and Merseyside Drug Local Information System has confirmed that a batch or possibly multiple batches of heroin have been located in the region, with forensic testing identifying the synthetic opioid etonitazene, a highly toxic, synthetic benzimidazole opioid, in the supply. This substance is part of the wider nitazenes group, which are far stronger than heroin – sometimes 100 times stronger – and dramatically increase the risk of overdose and death.

Paul says the drugs he consumed in Liverpool city centre just over a week ago contained nitazenes. “I was in hospital for two days. I was close to dying. It wasn’t through injecting, it was through smoking. So I reckon it was laced with something. Nitazenes are the worst. I know it was that, because the day before I was fine after smoking three or four things. The next day I smoked one and it was game over. When they did the blood test I think they said it was those nitazenses. They said I was a very lucky man.” Paul’s harrowing near-death experience has obviously left him scared to take what he believes to be heroin again, but like other addicts, he finds himself in an impossible and dangerous situation. “When you go through something like that you feel terrible, but then you go and take it again because you have to,” he explains with a grimace. “I actually need it to make me better because the withdrawals are so bad.”

Paul, who says he became homeless when his marriage broke down ten years ago, says he is desperate to get clean but is finding this almost impossible while living on the streets in Liverpool, where drugs and drug-taking is all around him. He says he best way for him to get clean now would be to get himself into prison, adding: “You actually get more help in prison. It’s the safest place for me. I get three meals, a warm bed and it’s harder to do drugs. Because every time I take it now I’m scared, but I need to take it. That’s the risk I have to take.” He’s far from the only one in this terrifying position.

Elsewhere in the city centre, Jimmy, Kyle and Shaz are talking about the contaminated drugs and the worries they now have. Kyle says he has been homeless on and off since he was a kid after coming through the care system. Asked if he is a heroin addict he smiles and asks: “Does a bear s*** in the woods?” He’s angry at the dealers who are now bringing these dangerous substances to the streets and putting him and his friends in grave danger. “Once you are immersed in addiction, this is just part of it,” he explains. “If the drugs are contaminated and you end up with it then you take that chance. It’s hundreds of times stronger with those nitazenes, that’s what kills you.” He adds: “The problem is, when you buy a bag of heroin, you don’t know what’s in it. These dealers are just greedy b*******. There is no need for them to do this.”

The three friends are currently living in a large tent in the city centre. 31-year-old Shaz, who is walking with crutches due to a leg injury, tells us she has been on the streets since she was 17. Originally from Ireland she also came through the care system before her life spiralled out of control. She is now fearful of what each hit of heroin could mean for her. “I know people who have died,” she tells us. “But it is what it is when you are an addict. You are taking that risk. I am a user. It is quite scary but it is a risk that we have to take when you are an addict and you are rattling” (suffering from withdrawal symptoms).”

Mark Whitfield is an associate professor in substance use at John Moores University. He explained more about the dangers of the nitazenes that have made their way into the Merseyside drug supply. He states: “Nitazenes are a group of highly potent synthetic opioids that have emerged in recent years in the illicit drug supplies, mainly as adulterants. So they will particularly be in Heroin but will appear in things like benzodiazepines as well. Part of the reason they are potentially appearing more is because of the reduced purity of Heroin in recent years, which has been affected by the reduced supply of heroin coming from Afghanistan. So we are seeing more synthetic substances appearing in traditional drugs without people realising. The issue is that they are significantly stronger. We know that some variations are potentially over one hundred times more potent than heroin, so only a small amount would be needed to cause an overdose.”

So the risks are huge. But for those trapped in the cycle of addiction on the streets of this region, they are risks they feel they have to take. Shaz, who has been a user of heroin on and off for 15 years adds: “When you are rattling then you are taking it, simple as. If it is a bad batch, then that’s on you. We know it’s a chance we are all taking. We are just trying to survive.”