[size=+1]Heroin shortage in UK is 'putting lives at risk'[/size]
• Afghan poppy harvest blighted by fungus
• Dealers adulterating supply to maintain profits
Diane Taylor
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 21 November 2010 19.40 GMT
Hospitals are treating a growing number of drug users who have overdosed on heroin mixed with other substances by dealers because of a huge shortage of the opiate across the UK.
One of the most severe heroin 'droughts' for five years has been reported in areas across the UK, including, London, Lancashire, Surrey, and Stockton-on-Tees.
The shortage has been linked not to seizures of the drug by law enforcement agencies but to a fungus that has blighted this year's poppy crop in Afghanistan, reducing it by half.
Users are overdosing on either adulterated heroin, or, in some cases, what has been found to be a combination of a powerful sedative, caffeine and paracetamol. Some have become unconscious very soon after injecting or smoking it, while others have reported vomiting, flu-like symptoms and amnesia, drug agencies say.
Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/nov/21/heroin-shortage-uk-overdose-users
• Afghan poppy harvest blighted by fungus
• Dealers adulterating supply to maintain profits
Diane Taylor
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 21 November 2010 19.40 GMT
Hospitals are treating a growing number of drug users who have overdosed on heroin mixed with other substances by dealers because of a huge shortage of the opiate across the UK.
One of the most severe heroin 'droughts' for five years has been reported in areas across the UK, including, London, Lancashire, Surrey, and Stockton-on-Tees.
The shortage has been linked not to seizures of the drug by law enforcement agencies but to a fungus that has blighted this year's poppy crop in Afghanistan, reducing it by half.
Users are overdosing on either adulterated heroin, or, in some cases, what has been found to be a combination of a powerful sedative, caffeine and paracetamol. Some have become unconscious very soon after injecting or smoking it, while others have reported vomiting, flu-like symptoms and amnesia, drug agencies say.
Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/nov/21/heroin-shortage-uk-overdose-users
