Nitazenes, synthetic opioids, could create latest drug crisis as scientists rush to find how to detect them in drug supply
A new class of potentially deadly synthetic opioids is suddenly appearing around the globe, including in the US, and scientists are rushing to figure out how to detect it in the drug supply.
Within the last month, nitazenes were implicated in four overdose deaths in Manchester, England; they were detected in over 2,500 counterfeit oxycodone pills in Hamilton, Canada; and they were found for the first time in the Netherlands. The US Drug Enforcement Administration has warned about their appearance in Washington DC.
Nitazenes are a class of synthetic opioid first developed in the 1950s but never approved to go to market.
Simply the stronger it is, the less you need to move, and the easier it is to smuggle.
Then you just cut it back to “standard” strength or attempt to do so. This is a big reason fentanyl displaced heroin, and why you see otherwise undesirable drugs like carfentanyl out there that are even stronger.