IT'S HORRIBLE...IT'S TOO STRONG...IT'S IN TOWN NOW

FEARS OVER DRUG 100 TIMES MORE POTENT THAN HEROIN

- DAMON WILKINSON

EXPERTS in Manchester are bracing themselves for the arrival of a super-strength street drug that can be hundreds of times more potent than heroin.

Synthetic opioids called nitazenes I have been linked to more than 100 deaths across the UK since last summer.

There are not thought to have been any nitazene-linked deaths in Greater Manchester. But one heroin user, who spoke to the M.E.N. anonymously, said he believed it was already in circulation in the city and feared he had inadvertently taken it recently.

"It's in town now, " he said. "People 'round the gardens [Piccadilly Gardens] are worried about it because you can't tell until you've had it.

"It's horrible. It makes your heart start beating too fast. You feel sick. You feel like you're overdosing straight away. It's too strong."