How Birmingham became the epicentre of Britain’s opioid crisis
Rats grown fat on refuse prowl the streets of Birmingham. Mounds of rubbish pile up outside houses. Desperate to avoid blame, the city’s politicians bleat about being held to ransom by a pesky union. ‘Welcome to Brum,’ one resident said as he caught me taking a photo of a bin mountain. Even CNN has a reporter on the ground. On Saturday, she carefully tiptoed around lots of black bags, as if each were a landmine. This is where Peaky Blinders was filmed, she told her American viewers. Out of shot, a far greater scandal passes unnoticed. While the national press rummages through Birmingham’s bins, the backstreets of England’s second city are afflicted by a hidden opioid crisis.
