LETHAL COCKTAILS
Truth behind Brit New Year’s Eve drugs reveals revellers down pills containing household cleaners and dental anaesthetic
Other substances detected include boric acid and ground up malaria tablets
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Cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy), ketamine and heroin were among 65 drugs tested in one city centre.
The drugs were mixed with boric acid, prescription drugs, salt, sugar and even ground-up malaria tablets.
Doctors say this makes them highly unstable and could potentially become a ticking time bomb in the body.
Prior to the findings, the UK was named as having the highest drug-related death rate on record, and one of the highest rates in Europe.
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This year has seen a string of party deaths already. Geordie Shore star Vicky Pattinson is mourning her friend Paul Burns, 37, who died in June after taking ecstasy.
Meanwhile, Reece Murphy, 16, died in Somerset in July after a bad reaction to the same drug. Mum Sarah Lush released a photo of Reece unconscious in a hospital bed to warn others.
The revelations come from a two-day "pop-up lab" set up in a church hall that found one in five samples were heavily contaminated.
A 23-year-old student took in cocaine, MDMA and ketamine to the service, set up in Durham. The coke was mixed with dental anaesthetic.
Over half of all samples were MDMA, with samples containing twice the usual adult dose.
Many were also spiked with a stimulant called N-ethylpentylone, which causes hallucinations, anxiety, insomnia and paranoia. The effects can last up to four days.
Table salt was being passed off as ketamine, while heroin contained paracetamol and caffeine.
The tests were carried out by a non-profit advice and welfare service called The Loop, co-founded by Professor Fiona Measham.
Double dealing...Cannabis twice as strong as a decade ago
Cannabis resin and herbal cannabis have doubled in potency in a decade, according to a pan-European study.
Concentrations of THC in herbal cannabis - the main psychoactive element of the drug - increased from 5 per cent in 2006 to 10 per cent in 2016.
For cannabis resin, it rose from 8 per cent in 2006 to 10 per cent in 2011, then jumped to 17 per cent by 2017.
The research for the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction used data from all 28 EU countries, and also Norway and Turkey.
The price of the drug also increased.
Herbal cannabis went from €7.36 per gram in 2006 to €12.22 in 2016.
Cannabis resin rose from €8.21 per gram to €12.27 over the same period.
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The volunteer team, which includes chemists, psychiatrists, counsellors and nurses, targeted clubs and then music festivals.
Prof Measham, a criminology lecturer at Durham University, said: "We say to people the safest way to take drugs is not to take them at all."
Drug-related hospital admissions were down 95 per cent after The Loop carried out testing at a music festival in Cambridgeshire.
- If you are worried about drugs call the Frank helpline at any time on 0300 1236600 or text 82111
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