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  "path": "/2026/03/16/deadly-nitazene-drug-sold-app-popular-teenagers-27406521/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-16T06:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "News",
    "UK",
    "Crime News",
    "Drugs",
    "Nitazenes",
    "London",
    "News Updates",
    "Breaking News",
    "US",
    "China",
    "Crime",
    "FRANK",
    "Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source"
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  "textContent": "Metro has uncovered how a deadly drug is being pushed on the Telegram app (Picture: Metro)\n\nThousands of people are using an app popular with teens to buy a killer drug more dangerous than heroin which is responsible for rising deaths in Britain.\n\nNitazenes – a synthetic opioid – is being advertised, sold and arranged for delivery on the encrypted app Telegram.\n\nBrits can buy it from dealers with thousands of followers and arrange for it to be delivered by parcel from America.\n\nThe drug – said to be 100 times stronger than heroin – was reported to be responsible for 333 deaths in 2024. But new research by King’s College London says the number could have been under reported by a third.\n\nOur investigation has found it being for sale on Telegram in chats with have thousands of people following them.\n\n##  Sign up for all of the latest stories\n\nStart your day informed with Metro's **News Updates** newsletter or get **Breaking News **alerts the moment it happens.\n\nPhotos show it being delivered through courier services hidden in other packaging.\n\nThey are being sold via the app as pills which look like ecstasy. The group names all contain Nitazenes as its name.\n\nThe majority of dealers appear to be based in the US but are advertising it for sale and collection anywhere.\n\nOther chats are called ‘Main supply’.\n\nA page dedicated to nitazenes on the Telegram app has thousands of subscribers and shows orders being sent out to locations around the world\n\nOn the app, dealers send photos of delivery notifications when they have gone out to people who have bought them.\n\nPhotos of the drug are also posted.\n\nSubscribers to the chat are warned “stock is very limited”. Other chats are promoted called ‘Synthesize chemical”.\n\nAnother message said: “Shipping from China, worldwide, with tracking.”\n\nWhat a Telegram user will see from accounts pushing the sale of the deadly synthetic opioid\n\nRecords show some people are taking them by accident, as they are mixed in with other drugs as cheap substitutes.\n\nOne source said: “It is shocking it is so freely available on an app like Telegram.\n\n“That is so dangerous. Nobody really knows what they are taking with this stuff. It’s a very disturbing situation.”\n\nNitazenes are a class of synthetic opioids which can have potencies of up to 500 times that of heroin.\n\nExperts have warned they can be readily manufactured at low cost.\n\nThis post, which reads ‘out for delivery’, is met with various emojis, including thumbs up and a love heart\n\nWhile the National Crime Agency (NCA) reported 333 fatalities linked to nitazenes in 2024, researchers believe that the number of deaths has been underreported as concerns have been raised by toxicologists regarding their stability in postmortem blood samples.\n\nThis means they are likely being missed by postmortem toxicology tests.\n\n##  Risks associated with taking nitazenes\n\nSuppression of breathing and respiratory arrest\n\nLoss of consciousness and coma\n\nDizziness or fainting\n\nWithdrawal symptoms, including nausea and retching\n\nItching\n\nLethargy\n\nConstipation\n\n_Information provided byFRANK_\n\nDr Caroline Copeland, senior lecturer in pharmacology & toxicology at King’s College London, said: ‘If nitazenes are degrading in post-mortem blood samples, then we are almost certainly undercounting the true number of deaths that they are causing.\n\n‘That means we’re trying to tackle a crisis using incomplete data. When we don’t measure a problem properly, we don’t design the right interventions – and the inevitable consequence is that preventable deaths will continue.’\n\nA spokesperson for Telegram said in a statement: ‘The sale of drugs is explicitly forbidden by Telegram’s terms of service and such content is removed whenever discovered.\n\n‘Moderators empowered with custom AI tools proactively monitor public parts of the platform and accept reports in order to remove millions of pieces of harmful content, including the sale of drugs.\n\n‘Further, Telegram is the only platform that allows users to report not only individual posts or groups but terms that may be used to identify harmful content.\n\n‘This unique community-driven effort lets users identify terms in any language, including slang terms, so they can be investigated and blocked in Telegram’s search feature.’\n\nComment now Comments  Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google Add as preferred source ",
  "title": "Deadly nitazene drug ‘more dangerous than heroin’ being sold on app popular with teenagers"
}