UK Drug Markets & Monitoring
Tracking real-time shifts in drug price, availability, and potency across the UK to reduce harm and save lives
Bottom-up intelligence on drug supply changes
As the illicit drug market is unregulated, its contents, purity, and risks are constantly changing. The rapid proliferation of potent synthetic opioids (such as nitazenes and orphines), novel sedatives (xylazine and medetomidine), benzodiazepines, and synthetic cannabinoids makes real-time market surveillance essential to protecting public health.
Release tracks UK drug market trends by combining national public health data, toxicological findings, and drug checking results with our own direct, community-led market intelligence systems.
By monitoring what is actually circulating according to people who use drugs and those who work closest with communities of drug users, we can issue rapid alerts, inform public health bodies, and ensure people who use drugs have the information they need to better protect themselves and their loved ones.
The Drug Monitoring Network (DMN)
Originally established at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to track the impact of national lockdowns on illicit supply chains, Release’s Drug Monitoring Network has grown into an ongoing UK-wide intelligence collective.
The Network brings together people who use drugs, grassroots harm reductionists, and frontline treatment workers across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland to capture qualitative, ground-level feedback on:
- Emerging adulterants and dangerous substance contamination
- Local supply shortages, price fluctuations, and purities
- Shifts between street markets, delivery networks, and darknet platforms
- Adverse reactions, unexpected overdoses, and community health concerns
Explore What’s Happening Now: DrugMap.uk
A collaboration between Release and the Benzo Research Project
Want to know what substances and adulterants are actively circulating in your area? DrugMap.uk is an open-access, community-led platform tracking UK drug trends, forensic test results, and harm reduction advisories in real time.
Interactive Map
View confirmed reports of adulterants, unexpected potencies, and mis-sold substances mapped across UK regions.
Harm Reduction Alerts
Get timely clinical and community alerts on dangerous contaminants, including nitazenes and novel synthetic sedatives.
Verified Lab Data
Combines anonymous peer reports with verified data from chemical analysis services and public health monitoring.
Submit an Anonymous Market Tip
Have you come across an adulterated batch, experienced an unexpected reaction, or noticed unusual packaging, fake pharmaceuticals, or sudden price spikes in your area?
Help us protect the wider community by sharing your intelligence. This reporting form is 100% confidential and anonymous — we do not collect names, contact details, or IP addresses.
Join the Drug Market Monitoring Network
Are you a person who uses drugs, a harm reduction advocate, or a frontline treatment worker who wants to contribute regular, ground-level market intelligence?
We are actively seeking contributors from all UK regions to help ensure our early warning network represents diverse communities, substances, and scenes.
To join or find out more about becoming a Network contributor, get in touch with Shayla:
Research & Publications
Read Release’s foundational study establishing the Drug Market Monitoring Network:
“Drugs in the Time of COVID: The UK Drug Market Response to Lockdown Restrictions”
By Judith Aldridge, Laura Garius, Jack Spicer, Magdalena Harris, Karenza Moore, and Niamh Eastwood (2021)