Potent illegal drugs which mimic the effects of heroin are a growing health threat and could be attractive to criminal gangs, according to a wide-ranging report, Euronews informs. 

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction said the synthetic opioids have recently emerged on the underground market on both sides of the Atlantic.

With only small volumes needed to produce many thousands of doses, the substances are easy to conceal and transport, the European Drug Report 2017: Trends and Developments said.

The growing use of opioids has grabbed attention in recent years as deaths from such drugs, both illicit and prescription, in the United States have reached what many experts call epidemic levels.