Surge in UK deaths from man-made drug coming from shadowy labs in China and India

A man-made drug coming from labs in China and India is causing a surge in deaths in the UK.

Deaths from synthetic cannabinoids, known as Spice, more than doubled in 2025 in England and Wales, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show.

Experts warned that the dangerous drug is being imported from China and India, often in ‘Do It Yourself’ kits which are assembled in the UK.

Other powerful lab-made opioids called nitazenes caused more than 100 deaths last year after making their way in from illicit labs abroad.

The number of drug deaths in England and Wales last year fell to 5,519, down slightly from the record high in 2024, ONS stats released this morning revealed.

However, the number of men dying due to drugs was the highest on record in 2025, at 3,778 deaths.

Cocaine overtook heroin or morphine to become the most mentioned drug in drug-poisoning deaths for the first time, responsible for more than 1,200 people losing their lives.

However, experts have sounded the alarm over the number of deaths from lab-made psychoactive substances.

Deaths involving synthetic cannabinoids more than doubled, from 44 in 2024 to 95 in 2025, which is the highest number recorded.

Dr Caroline Copeland, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology & Toxicology at Kings College London told Metro that spice used to be made from clandestine labs in China before the country cracked down on the drug in 2021.

She said that experts now think these illicit labs have moved to India and possibly Pakistan.

Dr Copeland explained: ‘They have easy ready access to the equipment and infrastructure for illicit drug manufacture, and a lot of the people who have the know-how to make these things too.

‘It’s not like these countries think it is OK for these drugs to be manufactured within their jurisdictions, rather, it’s that they weren’t previously a problem so they haven’t yet gone through the efforts to introduce the needed legislations.’

Experts also warned that spice is also getting into the UK through ‘DIY’ kits which bypass China’s crackdown on the drug.

Professor Chris Pudney from the University of Bath told Metro: ‘The labs are still in China, but rather than producing the spice, they are now producing a kit with a packet of instructions for you to make it up in your home country.’

He said that a kit costing £1,000 can produce a kilo of spice.

However, these packs are even more dangerous because people assembling the drug are ‘less in control of the dosage’ they are taking.

Prof Pudney also said there are increased reports of ‘solid-like crystal spice in the community’.

While the drug is most often consumed by prisoners and vulnerable, there is growing concern over young people taking the drug via vaping.

Today’s figures also revealed worrying numbers of Brits dying from nitazenes, which are synthetic opioids also believed to be produced in illicit labs from China.

Nitazenes have increasingly entered the UK market after the Taliban implemented a ban on planting opium in 2021.

As many as 150 people were recorded as dying from nitazenes in 2025.

Although that was down from 195 deaths the year before, it is still three times higher than in 2023.

And Dr Copeland warned that modelling showed the number of deaths from the drug is likely to be underestimated by a third.

This is because the drug is ‘incredibly potent’ and so is ‘very difficult to detect’.

Then researchers believe the drug degrades after death, meaning the amount that can be detected at post mortem becomes ‘smaller and smaller’.

Mike Trace, CEO at The Forward Trust and former government drug czar, said: ‘The threat that nitazenes are posing in real life on the ground is not reflected in the figures.

‘Our big fear and the government’s big fear is that they are trying to develop responses to a new threat with big limitations on what we know about those new threats.’

Campaigners are also speaking out about the rising numbers of men dying from drug-poisoning, which surged to a new high despite decreases among women.

Mark Brooks, Policy Director of the center for Policy Research on Men and Boys, said: ‘The continuing rise in male drug death rates, alongside other deaths of despair such as alcohol misuse and suicide, shows the overall lives of many men are getting worse rather than improving.

He added: ‘This is a public health emergency, even more so in places like northern England. We need to do far more to tackle the root causes such as lack of employment, mental health and isolation.’

The North East continued to have the highest drug deaths compared to other regions in England and Wales, despite a drop compared to the record high in 2024.

Yorkshire and the Humber and the South East of England all faced the highest rates of drug deaths since records began in 1993.

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