Gardaí fear impact from collapse in heroin production
A Drug In Eu In And Of Police Drop Documented Afghanistan The Report By In 2023 95% Opium Agencies Production
Gardaí are seriously concerned new data revealing the extent of the collapse in global opium production could see a rise in the supply of highly dangerous synthetic versions of heroin.
It follows the publication of a report by EU police and drug agencies, which documented a 95% drop in the production of opium in Afghanistan in 2023.
Afghanistan is responsible for the vast bulk of the heroin supplied into Europe.
In the report, EU authorities said the dramatic fall in opium production could be filled by ramped-up manufacture of synthetic opioids, which are far more powerful than heroin.
One of the synthetic drugs, nitazene, erupted into the Irish heroin market last November, causing 57 overdoses in Dublin, followed by 20 overdoses in Cork.
Both the HSE and Gardaí say nitazene is still available in the Irish heroin market and expect it might expand to other parts of the country.
Recent analysis published in journal suggests the version detected in Ireland, N-pyrrolidino protonitazene, can be up to up 100 times more potent than heroin.
This would also make it twice as strong as fentanyl, the synthetic opioid that has caused devastation in the US.
Although authorities in Ireland, including most recently the Tánaiste, believe fentanyl will come to Ireland at some stage as part of the recent shifts in the heroin market, it has not yet been detected.
Sources have told the that heroin trafficking gangs have been preparing for some time to source alternatives after the Taliban regime in Afghanistan issued a ban on opium production in April 2022.
The report said it could take a year, possibly longer, for the heroin drought to hit.
“This report shows just how much heroin production has fallen,” said one source. “There’s no way the trafficking gangs can fill that gap by looking to another country to increase production, so that means supplying the synthetic stuff.
“We would expect to see a lot more coming into Europe, including here.”
Gardaí do not know how much nitazene has entered the Irish market and suspect dealers in Ireland most likely believe they are getting supplies of heroin.
Gardaí revealed last September that Ireland’s largest heroin trafficking gang had travelled with other European gangs to Mexico to meet cartels about the possibility of shipping fentanyl to Europe, including Ireland.
Two Mexican cartels, Sinaloa and Jalisco, are identified by the US Drug Enforcement Agency as the producers and suppliers of fentanyl to the US market.
The Mexican cartels have established connections with China, from where they get the supplies of fentanyl.
In recent times, the DEA believe the Mexican gangs are also sourcing nitazene from China and mixing it into fentanyl, and that the supply of nitazene in the US has increased.
The British National Crime Agency also believes nitazene in the UK came from China.
Last December, the NCA reported there had been 54 deaths in the UK over six months from nitazene.
Authorities here are concerned Mexican cartels are importing nitazene as well as fentanyl and point out the cartels there would have the existing capability and routes to traffic the drug to Europe, similar to what they already do with cocaine.