RADAR publishes ad-hoc alerts related to new drugs, trends and harms.

Current alerts

Bromazolam

A public health alert about new benzodiazepines was published on 5 July 2023. 

Bromazolam is now the most common drug detected in 'street benzos'. Reports to RADAR indicate that bromazolam produces strong sedative and sleep-inducing effects. As a result, there is a substantial risk of overdose.

Nitazenes

A public health alert about nitazene-type drugs was published on 24 January 2023. 

Nitazenes are potent synthetic opioids. Due to their unexpected presence in the drug supply and high potency, nitazenes pose a substantial risk of overdose, drug-related hospitalisation and drug-related death.

Update

The alert linked in this publication was updated on 20 December 2023 to add new, provisional data on post-mortem toxicology detections for nitazene-type opioids.

This data update has been published to support the winter messaging campaign (external website) and activities related to the risks of synthetic opioids.