A wave of homemade, synthetic drugs sweeps US and deepens crisis

What the report says

BBC World News reports that a new wave of synthetic drugs is worsening the U.S. overdose crisis, with fentanyl increasingly appearing alongside other man-made substances such as xylazine and medetomidine. The piece is based on reporting from Columbus, Ohio, and Chicago, with interviews from users, dealers, recovery workers and jail staff. It describes how some people who believe they are using crack cocaine or other stimulants are instead exposed to fentanyl or mixed drug cocktails, sometimes without knowing it.

In Columbus, the BBC followed a 48-year-old Army veteran who has lived with opioid addiction for decades and now smokes fentanyl in the city’s Linden neighbourhood. Recovery workers there said the local drug supply has shifted, with stimulant users now accounting for a large share of fatal overdoses in Franklin County. The article also notes that naloxone has saved many lives in opioid overdoses, but may be less effective against some of the newer sedatives being mixed into drugs.

At a recovery meeting in Columbus, people shared accounts of overdoses and losses linked to fentanyl-laced drugs. The BBC also spoke to a dealer in Chicago who said synthetic drugs are changing the market and that existing efforts to stop trafficking have not broken supply lines from Mexico. The report places this within the wider U.S. crisis, where overdose deaths remain at historically high levels even after falling from a 2022 peak. It also highlights concern among health and justice workers that the drug threat is becoming more complex and harder to reverse.