The Drugs Are Changing Faster Than the System: Why Prevention Must Start Before Crisis
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The drugs are changing—and our response must change with them
A powerful new warning about synthetic drugs should concern every parent, school, youth worker, community organisation and public service.
A recent BBC News investigation reports that highly potent synthetic opioids are increasingly appearing within the illegal drug supply.
People may believe they are taking heroin, cocaine, street benzodiazepines or another substance without knowing that it has been mixed with something considerably stronger.
Some of these substances can be hundreds of times more potent than heroin. A tiny and unpredictable quantity can cause a life-threatening overdose.
For Sam Smith, Founder and Co-Director of Genuine Futures CIC, this is not simply another news story.
Sam lost his brother and has lost many of the young people he grew up alongside in the care system. He has also witnessed the devastating grip of addiction and what happens when trauma, exclusion and isolation are allowed to deepen without the right support.
“I have lost my brother and many of the young people I grew up with in care. I have seen people battling the grip of addiction while the system waits until they reach crisis before responding. Behind every statistic is a person, a family and a life that mattered.”
What are nitazenes?
Nitazenes are a group of powerful synthetic opioids manufactured in laboratories. Some are reported to be hundreds of times more potent than heroin.
The risk is made worse because people may not know these substances are present in what they have obtained. Nitazenes and other synthetic opioids can be added to heroin, cocaine, street benzodiazepines and counterfeit tablets.
The European Union Drugs Agency reports that seven new synthetic opioids were formally notified to its Early Warning System during 2025, including three nitazenes and three orphines.
Official figures from National Records of Scotland show that nitazenes were implicated in 76 drug misuse deaths during 2024—more than three times the number recorded in 2023.
Although these figures relate to Scotland, the threat is not confined to Scotland. Government guidance confirms that potent synthetic opioids have already caused spikes in drug-related deaths in England and asks local areas to prepare coordinated responses.
Young people may not know what they are taking
One of the most disturbing messages from the BBC report is the uncertainty surrounding the contents and strength of illegal drugs.
Young people can be exposed through experimentation, peer pressure, exploitation, trauma or attempts to cope with anxiety and difficult life experiences. Others may purchase counterfeit tablets through social media, believing that they are receiving a familiar medicine or substance.
Simply telling young people to “make better choices” is not an effective prevention strategy. It ignores the circumstances shaping those choices and may close down the conversations that could save a life.
“Young people do not wake up one morning and choose addiction. There is often trauma, rejection, exploitation, poverty, loneliness or a complete loss of hope behind it. If we only respond to the substance and ignore the story, we will continue treating symptoms while lives are being lost.”
The connection between care experience, trauma and addiction
Not every care-experienced young person will experience addiction, homelessness or involvement with the criminal justice system. Care experience should never be treated as a prediction of failure.
However, young people who experience disrupted relationships, repeated placement moves, loss, abuse or an abrupt withdrawal of support can face additional vulnerabilities.
Sam entered care at 13 and experienced exclusion, secure accommodation, homelessness and imprisonment. He understands how unresolved trauma and the absence of trusted relationships can shape a young person’s choices.
“When I entered care, I did not need another label. I needed stability, belonging and someone who would stay. Too many of the young people I knew were moved between services and institutions without anybody dealing with the pain underneath their behaviour.”
Sam’s experience also shows that people should never be defined by the most difficult period of their lives.
“I am not sharing this for sympathy. I am sharing it because I know what can happen when young people feel abandoned and believe they have no future. I also know that change is possible when somebody sees your potential and gives you a real opportunity.”
Prevention is safeguarding
At Genuine Futures, we believe prevention must begin long before an overdose, arrest, school exclusion or hospital admission.
Safeguarding is not only about responding after serious harm has occurred. It is also about creating the relationships, knowledge, opportunities and protective environments that make harm less likely.
Effective prevention includes:
- trusted adults who listen without immediately judging;
- honest and accessible education about drugs and counterfeit tablets;
- trauma-informed mental health and addiction support;
- early help for young people and families;
- safe places where young people experience belonging;
- positive peer relationships and youth voice;
- routes into education, employment, skills and enterprise;
- targeted action against adults and organised groups exploiting young people.
These measures do not replace specialist drug and alcohol treatment. They strengthen the wider system of prevention around it.
“We cannot wait until a young person overdoses, enters custody or reaches breaking point before offering them a trusted relationship, a safe place and a meaningful opportunity. By then, the human and economic cost is already far too high.”
A young person does not experience separate services—they experience one life
Drug use cannot be separated neatly from poverty, school exclusion, homelessness, care experience, unemployment, poor mental health, exploitation or contact with the criminal justice system.
When services respond to every issue separately, young people can be passed between thresholds, assessments and referral pathways while the underlying causes remain unresolved.
A young person may be known to several organisations and still feel that nobody truly knows them.
“We have built systems around services rather than lives. Young people do not experience a housing problem on Monday, a mental health problem on Tuesday and an employment problem on Wednesday. They experience one life—and our response must recognise that.”
The answer is not another disconnected project. It is a connected network of prevention and opportunity in which schools, health services, public health, police, housing, youth justice, employers and community organisations share responsibility and act early.
What should happen in Bolton and Greater Manchester?
Greater Manchester already has a Potent Synthetic Opioid Response Plan.
The next test is whether preparation reaches the neighbourhoods, families, frontline workers and young people most likely to need it.
Honest, age-appropriate education
Schools, colleges, alternative provision and youth organisations need up-to-date information about synthetic opioids, counterfeit tablets, exploitation and overdose risks.
Education should be factual, accessible and developed with young people. It should inform rather than frighten or shame them.
Training for trusted adults
Youth workers, housing teams, school staff, community organisations and frontline professionals should understand emerging risks, respond appropriately to disclosures and know where specialist help is available.
Wider naloxone awareness
Naloxone is an emergency antidote that can temporarily reverse an opioid overdose, including an overdose involving nitazenes.
Relevant organisations and community settings should understand how naloxone can be obtained and used alongside an immediate 999 call.
Rapid local warnings
When dangerous substances appear, information must move quickly between hospitals, drug services, police, public health, outreach teams and trusted community organisations.
Warnings must also reach people at risk in language and formats they will understand.
Trauma-informed support
A narrow focus on the substance can miss why someone began using it.
Support must consider trauma, bereavement, mental health, housing, family relationships, exploitation and poverty alongside the addiction itself.
Real pathways into opportunity
Employment, skills, enterprise and positive activity are not peripheral to prevention.
They can provide structure, income, relationships, confidence, belonging and hope. Young people need something meaningful to move towards—not only repeated warnings about what they should avoid.
Lived experience at the decision-making table
Strategies are stronger when they are shaped by people who understand care, addiction, homelessness, exclusion and the justice system through lived experience.
Lived experience should influence commissioning, communications, service design and evaluation—not be added at the end as a testimonial.
What Genuine Futures is doing
Genuine Futures CIC works with young people who may be NEET, care experienced, at risk of exclusion, involved with youth justice or facing multiple barriers to education and employment.
Through trusted relationships, youth voice, employability, enterprise and community partnerships, we help young people develop confidence and access practical pathways towards a positive future.
Our programmes—including Boss Your Future, We Shine Any Car, Clean Futures and our wider Young Futures work—create places where young people can participate, contribute, build skills and be recognised for their strengths.
We do not claim that employment or enterprise alone can resolve addiction. Specialist clinical services and drug and alcohol treatment remain essential.
However, stable relationships, belonging, purposeful activity and realistic opportunities are powerful protective factors. They must form part of any serious prevention strategy.
We cannot keep waiting for tragedy
The arrival of increasingly potent synthetic drugs shows how quickly risk can change.
Systems built around crisis thresholds, delayed referrals and disconnected services will struggle to keep pace.
“I cannot bring back my brother or the young people I grew up with and lost. But we can honour them by refusing to accept that the next generation must follow the same path. We know the risks. We know the warning signs. The question is whether we have the courage to act early enough.”
We need to stop asking only:
“Which service does this young person qualify for?”
We must start asking:
“What will help this young person remain safe, connected, hopeful and able to build a future?”
The drugs are changing faster than the system.
Our commitment to prevention must change faster too.
Work with Genuine Futures
If you are a school, health organisation, housing provider, employer, local authority, funder or community partner, work with us to strengthen early intervention and create genuine pathways into education, employment, enterprise and community.
To discuss a referral or partnership, email hello@genuinefutures.co.uk.
Genuine Futures CIC — Bridging the gap to opportunity.
Important safety information
If you believe someone may be experiencing an overdose, call 999 immediately.
If naloxone is available, administer it in accordance with its instructions, remain with the person and follow the emergency call handler’s advice. Naloxone does not replace emergency medical assistance.
For confidential information and support, contact the NHS, your local drug and alcohol service or Talk to FRANK.