Latest news with #nitazenes
The Independent
13 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Urgent warning after synthetic opioids linked to 38 deaths in Scotland over just three months
Public Health Scotland has issued a warning over nitazenes, a synthetic opioid, after the drug was linked to 38 deaths in Scotland in just three months. These laboratory-made substances are most commonly found as contaminants in drugs sold as heroin, benzodiazepines, and oxycodone. They have been increasingly identified in post-mortem examinations. An alert, issued through the Rapid Actions Drug Alerts and Response (Radar) led by PHS, highlights the "substantial risk of overdose, hospitalisation and death." PHS stated the alert was issued "to respond to increasing harms and availability in the drugs supply," citing recent Radar data indicating increased detection of nitazene-type opioids in hospital and post-mortem toxicology. Between January and March 2025, nitazenes were detected in 38 deaths. Drugs minister Maree Todd said the synthetic drugs could be 'hundreds' of times stronger than typical drugs. Ms Todd said: 'Every drug death is a tragedy, and my condolences go to anyone who has lost a loved one. 'We are working hard to respond to the growing threat from highly dangerous synthetic opioids like nitazenes. 'These synthetic drugs can be hundreds of times more potent than heroin and can increase the risk of overdose, hospitalisation and death. 'Because of their strength, I would urge anyone who carries naloxone to have extra life-saving kits with them and follow guidance on the Public Health Scotland and Scottish Drugs Forum websites. 'I am determined to do more to tackle the harm caused by drugs and that is why we are providing record levels of funding for drugs and alcohol programmes, including widening access to treatment, residential rehabilitation and life-saving naloxone. 'We have also opened the UK's first safer drug consumption facility, which is saving lives, and are working at pace to deliver drug-checking facilities.'
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Prescription pills are being laced with synthetic opioid that is 40 times stronger than fentanyl
A synthetic drug more than 40 times stronger than fentanyl has infiltrated the US drug supply, with federal data estimating more than 2,000 Americans have already been killed. Nitazenes are a group of compounds developed in the 1950s as an opioid pain reliever, but they never made it to patients because of the extremely high risk of overdose. In addition to being stronger than fentanyl, it's about 100 times stronger than morphine. However, recently, the illegal lab-made compounds are increasingly being pressed into counterfeit pills that buyers believe are legitimate pharmaceuticals, such as Xanax or oxycodone. What they might not know is that nitazenes have been found in at least 4,300 law enforcement-led drug seizures since 2019. They are often mixed in with other counterfeit or illegal drugs, including opioid pills, heroin, fentanyl and methamphetamine. Earlier this year, 22-year-old Lucci Reyes-McCallister died after taking what he believed was a Xanax pill. The Texas native had no idea the fake medication was laced with a type of nitazene 25 times deadlier than fentanyl. Just six months later, his friend Hunter Clement, 21, suffered the same fate after swallowing a counterfeit Percocet containing nitazenes. In both cases, several doses of Narcan, the opioid overdose reversal agent, were not enough. Nitazenes were never widely used until now, with a surge leaving the CDC and law enforcement at a major disadvantage. They gained popularity rapidly starting in 2019, evading officials' limited testing capabilities, leading to underreported overdoses. There are dozens of analogs, or modified versions of nitazenes, that have varying levels of potency. Potency also varies among batches, depending on the type of nitazene analog lacing the drugs, and uneven mixing means one pill may have a lethal dose while another has barely any. Compared to fentanyl, the analogs butonitazene and etodesnitazene are 25 to 50 percent as strong, while isotonitazene (ISO) is five to 10 times stronger. The most extreme variants, N-pyrrolidino protonitazene and N-pyrrolidino etonitazene, are up to 25 times stronger and up to 43 times stronger, respectively. Nitazenes first appeared in the US as fentanyl, which has killed an average of 70,000 Americans annually over the past three years. At about the same time, nitazenes appeared in Europe and the UK, where they have spread quickly and have killed nearly a thousand people. From 2020 to 2021, Tennessee saw a notable jump in nitazene-related deaths. It was the first cluster of deaths linked to the synthetic drug the country had seen and caught the CDC's attention. Fatal overdoses there jumped from 10 to 42. Most of those deaths involved multiple substances, including fentanyl and meth. ISO drove most of the nitazene-linked deaths. From May 2024 to 2025, Houston, Texas DEA agents reported 15 nitazene overdose deaths in people ranging in age from 17 to 59. William Kimbell, the special agent in charge of the division, said: 'We started seeing it in the Houston area, our first seizure was in 2022. 'And kind of the reason we're talking now is over the last year we have seen a pretty dramatic increase in its usage in Houston and the surrounding area.' Kimbell added that the agency has seen a 15 percent increase in nitazene-related overdoses in Houston and surrounding areas between November 2024 and February 2025. Reyes-McCallister died in the Houston area on January 26. His counterfeit Xanax had been laced with N-pyrrolidino protonitazene. His mother Grey McCallister told the New York Post: 'It was the first time I'd ever heard of it. 'It took them seven rounds of Narcan to try to revive him.' Clement's mother was equally as unacquainted with the drug. She said: 'I told my husband, "I feel like that could be what Hunter died from."' The raw chemicals to make the drugs are believed to come from China and India. Chemical companies there are able to synthesize the compounds at scale in a relatively easy process of three or four steps before the substance is smuggled to the UK, Europe and the US. Compared to countries in Asia, Europe, South America, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific islands, the US has the widest range of nitazene analogs and the most fatalities. In the US, drug seizures are ticking up. The Drug Enforcement Administration has reportedly seized nitazenes more than 4,000 times between 2019 and 2024. Andrew Renna, Assistant Port Director for Cargo Operations at JFK Airport in New York City said in May: 'Earlier this month, we seized almost a pound of nitazene that was going to a private residence in South Carolina. It was shipped from the United Kingdom. 'Unfortunately, here at JFK, we're seeing xylazine and nitazenes at least a few times a week in quantities ranging from just a few grams to upwards of a pound or more.' Nitazenes often evade detection in standard toxicology tests, allowing them to fly under the radar of public health officials and medical examiners. Many routine drug screens do not include tests for these synthetic opioids, meaning overdoses and deaths linked to nitazenes may be misclassified or underreported. This lack of visibility delays public health responses, leaving communities unaware of the growing threat on their streets. Nitazene overdose can lead to severe and life-threatening symptoms, including slow or shallow breathing, which indicates respiratory depression, a hallmark of opioid toxicity. If a good Samaritan passing by or a law enforcement officer only has one or two doses on them, it may not be enough to save the person's life.
Yahoo
30-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Drug more deadly than fentanyl is quietly killing hundreds
A relatively unknown and dangerous opioid is killing hundreds as authorities scramble to warn people about the drug, a new report reveals. Synthetic opioids known as nitazenes, which are stronger than fentanyl and mostly come from China, have killed hundreds of people in Europe, The Wall Street Journal reports. Just trace amounts of the drug can trigger a fatal overdose. Street nitazenes can be up to 250 times as potent as heroin, and up to five times as strong as fentanyl, the Journal reports. The opioid has been found mixed into several drugs, including heroin, counterfeit painkillers and anxiety medication, according to the outlet. Nitazenes are now spreading amid the ongoing opioid crisis in the U.S. While the crisis has affected the entire nation, it has particularly impacted West Virginia and other Appalachian communities. More than 800,000 people died from opioid overdoses in the U.S. between 1999 and 2023, according to the CDC. 'Synthetic opioids in the U.S. have not been driven by demand, they have been driven wholesale by supply,' Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told the Journal . 'If large criminal groups such as Albanian mafia groups, Turkish criminal groups or Italian or Mexican groups get into supplying nitazenes to Europe on a large scale, we can anticipate a massive public healthcare catastrophe.' Drug cartels in Mexico could 'easily' use their existing contacts in China-based suppliers to bring the opioids into the U.S., the Drug Enforcement Administration warned last year. However, at the time of the report, Mexican authorities had not seized any nitazene or nitazene-fentanyl mixtures in Mexico. Only 12 percent of nitazene exhibits analyzed by the DEA 'came from Southwest Border states,' the report said. U.S. authorities reported last year that they found nitazenes in at least 4,300 drug seizures since 2019, according to the Journal. Identifying the drug can be difficult, given that many overdose toxicology tests don't include nitazenes, the Journal reports. As a result, nitazenes are likely much more prevalent than official numbers might suggest, and the current death toll is likely an undercount. Nitazenes have never been approved for medical use and were first developed in Switzerland in the 1950s as an alternative to morphine, according to a September 2024 report by the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission. The commission operates under the Organization of American States, a group of 34 nations that includes the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The opioids 'emerged more widely on the illicit drug market in Europe' in 2019, the commission said. Since then, the drugs have been identified on nearly every continent. Anne Jacques of North Wales told the Journal her son died of a nitazene overdose in 2023, explaining she felt like he had been 'murdered.' Jacques was initially told that her son, a healthy opera singer, died of cardiac arrest. When police found Xanax tablets in his room and evidence on his phone that he may have purchased the pills illegally, she researched drug contaminants and asked a coroner to test for nitazene. Seven months after her son's death, police told Jacques her son's pills had been contaminated with the opioid, the Journal reports. 'I basically had to investigate my own son's death,' Jacques said. Nitazenes could be the 'biggest public health crisis for people who use drugs in the U.K. since the AIDS crisis in the 1980s,' Vicki Markiewicz, executive director for the drug and alcohol treatment organization Change Grow Live, told the Journal.
Sky News
03-07-2025
- Health
- Sky News
Kush – the deadly drug wreaking havoc in West Africa
👉 Listen to Sky News Daily on your podcast app 👈 The synthetic drug kush, first seen in Sierra Leone in 2022, has now spread into much of West Africa while also evolving into an even more dangerous drug. Tests have found it contains nitazenes, which are 25 times stronger than fentanyl. Sky News has found that ingredients used to make kush are being shipped into Sierra Leone from the UK. In today's Sky News Daily, Gareth Barlow is joined by our Africa correspondent, Yousra Elbagir, who has spoken to addicts and those trying to tackle the problem. Producer: Emily Hulme
ABC News
26-06-2025
- ABC News
The rising threat of synthetic opioids
The family of a woman who died in a drug overdose hopes her death will be a warning to others about the dangers of synthetic opioids. Nitazenes are many times more powerful than fentanyl and are often laced into recreational drugs with deadly results. Norman Hermant reports.
