Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the illicit use of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues has increased since 2019; how many deaths there have been since 2019 where illicit fentanyl is known to have contributed to the cause of death; and what steps they are taking to prevent the advertising and sale of these substances.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish annual statistics on ‘Deaths related to Drug Poisoning’ for England and Wales. The most recent update, published in August 2022, provides data up to 2021 on the number of drug-related poisonings. Data indicates a decline in fentanyl and fentanyl analogue related deaths from a peak in 2017 of 75 fentanyl-related deaths and 31 fentanyl analogue related deaths, to 58 fentanyl-related deaths and 3 fentanyl analogue related deaths in 2021. The statistics include all deaths related to fentanyl and/or fentanyl analogues, including fentanyl that has been lawfully prescribed.

The ONS provide data on Drug Misuse in England and Wales, with the most recent update published in December 2022. Specific data on the use of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues is not available.

Fentanyl and fentanyl analogues are controlled as Class A drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. The penalties for supply are life imprisonment an unlimited fine, or both; and for possession these are seven years’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both.

A number of fentanyl-based medicines have been approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and are therefore able to be sold and advertised legitimately by pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors who hold a Home Office controlled drugs licence.

As part of our Drug Strategy, the Home Office is investing £300m over three years to mobilise a robust and innovative end-to-end plan which attacks the illicit supply of drugs at every stage, undermining the business of criminal drugs supply from source to street.