Two fatalities in Boulder County, Colorado in 2023 are the newest drugs in the U.S. that are attributed to a powerful class of synthetic opioids called nitazenes. Most healthcare systems cannot detect nitazenes, so the exact number of overdoses is unknown, but they’ve been linked to over 200 deaths in Europe and North America since 2019, including 11 in Colorado since 2021. One of two deaths in Boulder County is linked to a recent drug called N-desethyletonitazene, which has been identified by the national laboratoryand is believed to be the first related death.
Interviewed person Dr. Christopher Holstege, professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and director of the Blue Ridge Poison Center, where opioid overdoses are on the rise. Explains why nitazenes are so powerful and deadly.
What are nitazenes?
Nitazenes are a class of synthetic opioids containing over 20 unique compounds, including isotonitazene, which was first identified in 2019 and is thought on the streets as ISO. Also includes protonitazene, metonitazene and etonitazene.
Nitazenes are psychoactive substances or “drug designer,” which are not regulated by any laws or conventions, but pose a serious health risk Publicly. These substances have recently emerged as illegal street drugs.
Scientists have relatively little details about the human body’s response to nitazenes because these drugs have never undergone clinical trials. But lab tests show it might be some nitazenes a whole bunch, 1000’s of times stronger than morphine and 10 to 40 times stronger than fentanyl.
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration has classified many forms of nitazenes as: Schedule 1 drugs under the Controlled Substances Actmeaning they haven’t any medical use and a high risk of abuse.
When were nitazenes first invented?
Nitazens were initially developed in the Nineteen Fifties by the pharmaceutical research laboratories of the Swiss chemical company CIBA Aktiengesellschaft. He synthesized many substances from the group of drugs that may be used as painkillers.
However, nitazenes have never been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for medical use in humans. They were almost forgotten outside specialized research circles until they re-emerged as street drugs in 2019. As law enforcement has cracked down on other drugs, akin to fentanyl, illegal labs have used historical pharmacological research formulate nitazene analogues as street drugs.
From 2019 no less than six formulas are from the original patent, but others, like the one discovered in Boulder, are brand recent. Specialized laboratory tests is required for the identification of nitazenes in toxicological samples, and Fentanyl test strips don’t detect nitazene analogues.
But since first detectedfor which nitazenes are blamed 200 drug overdose deaths in Europe and the United States. Although nitazens are now considered illegal drugs in lots of countries, many healthcare providers don’t even aware of their existence.
DEA, CC BY
What types of nitazens appear on the streets?
Nitazen first appeared in 2019 in the Midwest as white, powdery substance just like cocaine. It showed up later on the streets of Washington in the form of yellow, brown and white powder. As of 2022, the DEA found other types of nitazenes in each cases powder and blue tablet forms.
Nitazens are there too mixed with other street drugs akin to heroin and fentanyl, in addition to fake oxycodone pills, without the knowledge of users.
The Department of Justice brought several charges firms in Chinaclaiming that they ship raw chemicals used to provide nitazens to Mexico and the United States, where they are mixed by cartels and traffickers after which distributed on the streets.
What are the symptoms of a nitazene overdose?
Nitazene’s toxic effects are just like those of other classic opioids akin to morphine and fentanyl, and include small pupils and slowing of the respiratory and central nervous systems, which might result in death.
Due to the potency of nitazene, symptoms can develop quickly after exposure, leading to the patient’s death before they receive medical attention.
Does naloxone counteract the effects of an overdose?
Naloxone, commonly often called Narcan, is apparently effective in reversing nitazene-induced overdose, but greater i multiple doses could also be essential.
