New Wave of Synthetic Drugs on Chicago's South Side, America's Crisis Deepens

A new wave of synthetic drugs is spreading across the United States. Officials are warning that these drugs, cheap but far more potent than before, could deepen the country's decades-long drug crisis. To see the picture at the very front line of the crisis, BBC reporter Quentin Sommerville has toured Chicago's South Side; the communities there are fighting this danger every day.

In statistical terms, some relief has been seen recently, but concern is not abating. The number of deaths from drug use reached its highest, around 110,000, in 2022; last year it came down to around 70,000. But the authorities fear this decline may become difficult to sustain, because new types of synthetic drugs are entering the market — easy to make, cheap in price, yet terrifying in their lethal effect.

At the centre of officials' particular concern is an animal sedative drug known as 'tranq'. It is being learned that this substance, which is not for use in the human body, is being mixed with other drugs and sold. Such unauthorised mixtures make the consequences for the user even more uncertain and severe, and also make the task of providing emergency treatment harder.

Drugs are also a big issue in the political arena. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump pledged a tough campaign against the drug cartels; many cartels were declared terrorist organisations. Amid that tough stance of the government, the spread of the new synthetic drugs has become a new test before the administration.

The picture on Chicago's South Side is the hardest form of that test. For the residents there, the drug crisis is no distant statistic — they are seeing this crisis through their neighbourhood, their families and their everyday lives. The BBC report shows that people in the communities are fighting to save their area from this danger, even though the pace of drug supply repeatedly leaves their efforts behind.

Law-enforcement activity has also been stepped up. Pictures have also emerged of every scrap of paper being searched to find synthetic drugs inside Chicago's prison. In other words, drugs are no longer just a problem of the streets; the risk of them penetrating inside closed institutions, too, is making officials anxious.

In experts' explanation, the biggest danger of synthetic drugs is their uncertainty. What substance, and in what quantity, is mixed in a given batch is not known to the user. As a result, a drug sold under the same name produces a different level of effect each time, and the risk of death from an overdose suddenly rises. There is also concern that, because they are cheap, they are quickly reaching young people and people in financial hardship.

The country's drug crisis has a long history. Over the decades, waves of various kinds of drugs have come to the United States, and each time the burden of deaths and social harm has increased. Although the fall in the number of deaths in recent years is seen as some progress, officials say the new generation of synthetic drugs could reverse that progress.

In areas like the South Side, this fight is not only a matter of police operations. Bringing people back from addiction, delivering treatment and support arrangements, and keeping the area's young people away from this path — all together, this is the communities' daily struggle. The BBC report brings out the picture of that fight close to the ground.

The seriousness of the situation can be understood from the language of officials. Even though deaths from overdoses have fallen, they do not see it as a victory; rather, with the supply of cheap and powerful synthetic drugs increasing, they are warning in advance that the crisis could become severe again in the days ahead.

All in all, the picture from Chicago's South Side is a warning for the whole of the United States. The gap between improvement in numbers and reality on the ground persists. Attention will now be on how successful, alongside control of supply, the community-based fight proves to be in stopping this wave of new synthetic drugs.