Don’t stop the party: Recent nitazenes deaths in London expose gaps in nightlife drug safety

Once mainly a concern for heroin users, dangerous synthetic opioids have worked their way into the capital’s nightlife, with the first two deaths on the 26 of May in London. 

On May 26, two unassuming little blue pills contaminated with nitazenes allegedly killed a young couple in Southall, west London. Gagan Brar, 28, and Kamaldeep Kaur, 20, had just returned home after a night out in South London. Brar was a Bollywood film crew member, Kaur was a recent University graduate. 

Neither of the couple was known to do drugs. Brar, a Sikh, did not even drink. When they didn’t wake up in the morning, they were discovered by a worried flatmate. 

These pills, possibly still circulating the drug market, are the first-ever nightlife deaths in London due to nitazenes, a new class of synthetic opioids more deadly than Fentanyl. It’s a point from which we can’t turn back. 

Up until now, the vast majority of nitazene deaths in the UK have been attributed to contaminated heroin. However, the pills alleged to have killed Brar and Kaur are thought to have been sold to them as sleeping tablets or oxycodone, a commonly used prescription painkiller. The couple may have thought the pills were authentic and used them to wind down after a night out. 

The remaining pills were tested by the Metropolitan Police’s in-house laboratory and found to contain nitazenes. The pills, which were blue and marked with an ‘80’ symbol, were visually identical to different pills tested by charity The Loop in Bristol in March.  

Katy Porter, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at The Loop, told the Slice the pills tested in Bristol contained the same type of nitazenes as those thought to have killed the two clubbers in London. ‘We were then able to advise that […]  these pills [could be] in wider circulation,’ Porter said, and are ‘of heightened concern.’ Warnings have since been sent out by The Loop in collaboration with the new London Nightlife Taskforce. 

This is not a one-off; it’s a growing trend. The public health laboratory, Welsh Emerging Drugs and Identification of Novel Substances (WEDINOS), has warned that it has received samples of drugs mislabelled as painkillers such as oxycodone, Xanax and Valium, which contained nitazenes. In some cases, the fake meds have come packaged to resemble real prescription drugs.

Fake ‘party’ drugs submitted to WEDINOS, including 2CB and cannabinoids, have also been found to contain nitazenes. 

Awareness campaigns such as Talk to Frank educate people on the risks and effects of different kinds of drugs, especially more dangerous ones (eg MDMA). However, knowing the risks doesn’t help if you don’t know what it is you’re taking. 

Testing services, such as the ones run by charity The Loop have also become more commonplace at festivals, meaning mysterious pills and powders can be checked for purity. 

Yet counterfeit downers, which increasingly contain nitazenes according to BBC research, are not seen with the same suspicion as loose powder. Often, they come wrapped in fake pharmaceutical blister packs, making them look legitimate. 

The increased availability of drugs online, through messaging services such as Telegram or the Dark Web, makes bulk orders of fake pharmaceuticals easier to import and harder to trace. 

Nitazenes have killed at least 400 people since June 2023, with experts saying the deaths are likely being undercounted. Up until recently, nitazene contamination has mostly been limited to heroin. Now, the risk is spreading to nightlife. 

Currently, licensing requirements mean nightclubs operate under strict zero-tolerance policies for drug use on-site. If a club is considered too lax in searching people on the door, its license can be revoked. In 2014, nightclub Fabric was temporarily shut down following the overdose deaths of two teenagers. 

Islington Council reported constant and visible drug intoxication on the dance floor, and ordered the club to have drug-sniffing dogs on the door. Fabric later won a court battle to repeal the order due to high expenses. 

Zero-tolerance policies and door searches reduce the amount of drugs in nightclubs.  But with clubbers able to tuck baggies in nooks and crannies, it’s very difficult to stop drugs from coming in completely. Once they are inside, fear of legal consequences might stop drug users from being upfront with staff if drugs have made them unwell. 

‘They may be a bit skeptical or thing they’re gonna get in trouble,’ said Kaz Farrell, Head of Operations at local nightclub E1, ‘We try to let them know we are here to support them.’ 

E1 has adopted a ‘stick and carrot’ style approach to reduce harm caused by drug use. Bouncers on the door search bags and have a zero-tolerance policy. However, inside the club, there is a welfare team whose main goal is to help people who may be unwell, rather than catching out those who have broken the rules.

The priority is for the in-house welfare team to be approachable, so clubbers feel comfortable asking for medical assistance if needed. 

This two-pronged approach, which separates welfare and enforcement, is a good model for clubs trying to reduce risk while upholding their licensing requirements. However, it’s a delicate balance for nightclubs to strike. 

Critics of harm reduction principles will argue that lax policies inside the club encourage drug use, whereas critics of policing tactics will argue that harsh door policies stop people from asking for help inside. 

There is also a duty to protect and recognise public safety, and that needs to go beyond just preventing substances coming in to a venue

katy porter chief executive officer at the loop

It’s a tension recognised by The Loop, although the charity is clear that the two approaches can and should co-exist. ‘There is also a duty to protect and recognise public safety, and that needs to go beyond just preventing substances coming in to a venue,’ Porter said.

Following the recent overdoses, several London nightclubs, including Fabric, The Cause, XOYO and E1, have issued nitazene warnings. However, many of east London’s legendary clubs, including Dalston Superstore, Colour Factory and Metropolis, have not responded to the alert. Dalston Superstore, Colour Factory and Metropolis did not respond when approached for comment by the Slice. 

The Slice understands that London borough licensing teams have sent out nitazene alerts to nightclubs following the deaths at the end of May. It is up to individual venues to decide if and how they adjust their policy to respond. Many nightclubs employ medics and/or welfare teams onsite, although it’s not a requirement. 

The Cause’s warning reads, ‘Look after yourselves. If you, any of your close ones or someone in the crowd feels unwell this weekend, speak to any member of staff immediately. Our welfare team will be at hand to assist you in any occasion.’

Farell from E1 said, ‘All medics are regularly updated regarding specific drug warnings, the latest has indeed been about synthetic opioids and nitazenes on our WhatsApp group.’ The club has also trained up staff to use naloxone, the antidote to an opioid overdose, and displayed the most recent warnings on posters throughout the venue, including photos of the contaminated batch.  

Fabric’s warning includes an image of the pills thought to be contaminated with nitazenes and circulating in London, and reads, ‘If you or a friend feels unwell at Fabric please speak to a member of staff – we will not judge anyone.’ Fabric has also confirmed it is following nitazene guidance from drug testing charity The Loop. 

XOYO’s warning similarly included photos of the pills and official advice from The Loop.

The Loop CEO Katy Porter, whose background includes HIV treatment at the Mildmay Hospital and substance use treatment across the UK, believes checking drugs before use is one of the best ways to reduce drug-related deaths and harm. 

The Loop runs mobile laboratories that make it possible for nightclubs and festivals to have back-of-house drug testing services. They are able to test drugs confiscated on the door, released to amnesty bins, or found on someone having an adverse reaction. If something dangerous is found in the supply, medics and guests can be alerted in real-time. 

As per usual, funding is a key challenge – currently, venues that want drug-testing on site need to foot the bill themselves. ‘Finding the additional funds to put testing in place for venues is really hard,’ Porter said, ‘A lot of venues would love to be providing this, they just dont feel they can afford it.’ 

‘Front-of-house,’ drug checking services, where people voluntarily submit a sample of drugs to be tested, allow The Loop to give users direct, non-judgmental advice. However, this type of drug checking is not currently allowed in venues. Instead, it can be conducted in locations such as high streets, clinics, or city centres. 

For both ‘front-of-house’ drug checking and ‘back-of-house’ testing, licenses from the Home Office take at least six months to be processed and assessed. ‘If we have emerging concerns, the timeliness of delivering into a new site is fairly challenging,’ Porter said. 

Currently, only one ‘back-of-house’ testing service is run by The Loop in London, at Tottenham nightclub Drumsheds. The Loop is in conversation with two London Councils about further testing sites. 

In the meantime, DIY nitazene testing strips are available at walk-in charities and health centres or at a low cost online, but are not as sensitive as laboratory tests and are not always easy to find. 

It’s possible that the deaths thought to have been caused by nitazene-laced pills at the end of May were preventable. Drug-testing in London could’ve been facilitated sooner, and warnings about contaminated drugs could’ve been sent out earlier.

Public awareness about which drugs are risky could also have been better, because the pills were likely thought to be prescription-grade and non-recreational. 

If nightclubs make sure customers and staff are educated about the risks of nitazenes going forward, drug-related harm could be reduced. Laboratory drug-testing, such as that provided by The Loop and WEDINOS, could be rolled out more effectively in the capital to further reduce risks. 

With funding tight for the nightlife industry already, local authorities might also consider funding drug checking services directly. 

Perhaps most urgently, life-saving drug-checking services like The Loop take up to six months to implement in new locations. With the deadly risk of nitazenes rising, a quicker turnaround for drug-checking licensing could allow London nightlife to respond better to emerging threats.

If we respond quickly to this crisis now, we can stop more preventable deaths, without stopping the party.

Read our synthetic opioids series from the beginning: The arrival of an invisible killer: Is Tower Hamlets ready for Nitazenes?