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The Latest Breaking News from Opioids

Synthetic opioids: can Europe keep up with a new drug created every week?

Fifty new drugs were detected across Europe in 2025 alone, many of them highly potent synthetic opioids. Can the EU’s drugs strategy keep pace with an increasingly dangerous and fast-moving drug landscape?

Euronews

Antidepressants and antipsychotics could serve as alternatives to opioids, study finds

Medications that target depression, anxiety and poor sleep could help treat pain without opioids’ addictive properties

The Guardian - US

"I met God when I was high on opioids! It was a spectacular moment of realisation." Garbage's Shirley Manson on love, grief, and that beachball incident

Garbage and Skunk Anansie embark on a co-headlining UK tour next week

Louder

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More Than 50,000 Fake Pills Laced With Deadly Opioids Seized Across Europe Amid Overdose Fears

Over 50,000 counterfeit opioid tablets were seized in Europe in 2024, highlighting a growing crisis. Authorities warn these pills, often disguised as legitimate medications, pose significant health risks.

International Business Times UK

Europe faces growing threat from synthetic opioids and new drugs, report warns

Highly potent synthetic opioids are spreading through Europe's fast-changing drug market, linked to hundreds of deaths as traffickers shift to smaller ports and new smuggling methods, the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) has warned.

Radio France Internationale

New health risks emerge as Europe’s drug market grows more complex, EU agency warns

Europe’s drug market is growing more complex, with potent opioids, stronger cannabis and new substances raising health risks, the EU agency warns.

Euronews

Drug Kingpin Linked to Fatal Nitazene Deaths Had Secret Cache of 5,000 Child Abuse Images in Sick Double Life

Robert Poleszak admitted creating over 5,000 child abuse images, exposing a disturbing double life involving drug trafficking and child exploitation.

International Business Times UK

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'Rhino Tranq' Is in the Drug Supply and Naloxone Won't Stop It: A Growing Overdose Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight

When emergency medical teams respond to an overdose call, their most reliable tool has long been naloxone — a medication that rapidly reverses the effects of opioids and has saved hundreds of thousands of lives since the fentanyl crisis began.

Medical Daily

Indian pharma firms flood west Africa with powerful opioids despite crackdown: AFP investigation

Indian pharmaceutical firms are exporting millions of dollars worth of powerful tapentadol opioids to West Africa, fueling a deadly drugs epidemic, according to an AFP investigation. Researchers found these high-strength pills are being added to the addictive "zombie drug" kush, leading to a surge in overdose deaths and addiction across…

The Economic Times

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's settlement, by the numbers

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's deal to resolve thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids is taking effect Friday and the company is being replaced by a new entity

The Independent UK

Purdue Pharma to be sentenced in criminal opioids case, allowing settlement money to flow

A judge is expected to sentence OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to forfeit $225 million to the U.S. government

The Independent UK

New pain-relief opioid could be much less addictive than morphine, rodent study finds

A new and potentially safer opioid has been tested in lab rats, and the results suggest it relieves pain with a lower risk of addiction than other drugs in its class.

LiveScience

CDC Health Advisory: The ‘Rhino Tranq’ Overdose Warning for Seniors on Pain Meds

A new health advisory is raising serious concerns about a dangerous drug trend that many Americans—especially seniors—may not even realize exists. Health officials, including the...

Saving Advice

Kratom poisonings soar in US as experts blame synthetic versions and caution against bans

Experts say natural kratom may offer benefits and blame synthetic derivatives for surge in poisonings noted by CDC

The Guardian - US

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The Independent UK

New drug ‘10 times more potent than fentanyl’ and linked to dozens of deaths in Tennessee is spreading across US

The drug belongs to an emergent subclass of synthetic opioids known as ‘orphines’ which first appeared on the recreational drug market in 2020

Evening Standard

London’s first drug testing facility for users opens amid growing concerns over synthetic opioids

Chemists and health professionals will allow Londoners to submit ‘substances of concern’ for free testing before they are taken

The Conversation

Dogs can overdose too: Naloxone training can save pets’ lives as well as humans

Opioid-class drugs are commonly prescribed as powerful pain medications in both humans and animals, though they can also be accessed or used illicitly. These substances carry a significant risk of overdose in people and in pets because they slow the central nervous system. At high doses, this effect can slow…

The Independent UK

Social media can be addictive even for adults, but there are ways to cut back

Social media addiction has been compared to casinos, opioids and cigarettes

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The Independent UK

Synthetic opioid may have caused hundreds more deaths than recorded

Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, methadone, and buprenorphine have been linked to 524 deaths in England since the end of September 2025

The Guardian - UK

Synthetic opioids may have caused hundreds more UK deaths than thought

Study find nitazenes, which are up to 500 times stronger than heroin, can degrade significantly in portmortem blood samples

Evening Standard

Three die in north London borough from new synthetic opioid as expert warns: 'We are staring into the abyss'

Cychlorphine is thought to be 100 times stronger than heroin

Euronews

Belgian drug chief warns illegal vapes could hook children on 'spice'

The majority of illegal refillable vape capsules seized in Belgium are laced with synthetic cannabinoids, Belgium's drug commissioner warned. This risks addiction from a young age.

The Conversation

Drug use is changing in England – with more adults showing signs of dependence

Drug use appears to be changing in England – both in the types of drugs people take and their potency, according to our latest survey of adult mental health and wellbeing.

The Conversation

How does Narcan work? Mapping how it reverses opioid overdose can provide a molecular blueprint for more effective drugs

Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, is one of the most important drugs in the United States’ fight against the opioid crisis. It reverses an opioid overdose nearly instantly, restarting breathing in a person who was unresponsive moments before and on the brink of death. To bystanders witnessing…

The Independent UK

Judge to explain why he's approving Purdue Pharma settlement plan, which calls for $7B from Sacklers

A judge is set to explain why he's approving a plan for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids

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