opiate

Through the lens of harm reduction, a glass of wine seems benign, certainly less harmful than opiates.

“I was able to quit alcohol and I don’t do opiates anymore, but I do take quite a bit of kratom now and I am addicted to kratom.”

Instead, he described considering the possibility of a "highly toxic synthetic opiate" such as carfentanyl, which has a potency "hundreds of thousands of times greater than fentanyl".

There are an average of 49 drug poisoning deaths weekly involving opiates - such as heroin, oxycodone, fentanyl and including synthetic opioids - across England and Wales, the latest official figures suggest.

And yet with fentanyl, the drug naloxone, if administered quickly enough, can reverse the effects of opiates and save lives.