INDIANA – A new drug called Nitazene, more potent than morphine, heroin, and fentanyl, has appeared in Indiana. It was recently connected to a fatal overdose in Hamilton County.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, Nitazenes, or the Frankenstein Drug or Pryo, are dangerous and vary in strength – some so strong that there is no safe dose and pose a significant adverse health risk to the users.
Depending on the chemical formulation, some Nitazenes are 800 times more potent than morphine, up to 500 times more potent than heroin, and more than 40 times more potent than fentanyl. They come in liquids, pills, and powder form. And just as illegal street drugs can be laced with fentanyl, they can also contain nitazenes without the user knowing.
Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as a pain relief and anesthetic. It is approximately 100 times more powerful than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin as an analgesic.
The Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison says nitazene was found in a 39-year-old man who died in Fishers. The coroner said the first toxicology report was negative, even though there was clear evidence of an overdose. The county then asked the lab to look for more substances, and that’s when they discovered nitazene.
More than 2,000 people may have died from Nitazens since 2019, and that number is climbing.
Lawrence County Sheriff Greg Day says officers have not yet encountered the drug in Lawrence County, but that doesn’t mean they won’t.
Bedford Police Chief Terry Moore said, “I’ve heard of it and seen videos of people on it, but I’m unaware of any problem with it in the city.”
The population likely to abuse this opioid appears to be the same as those abusing prescription opioid analgesics, heroin, and other synthetic opioid substances. Many order it through an overseas black market and then sell it in Indiana. Police say it’s a cocktail of poison.
In powder form, it can appear yellow, brown, or off-white. DEA regional forensic laboratories have seen this drug mixed into heroin or fentanyl (and marketed as common street drugs) with deadly consequences. However, in other parts of the country, it has been seen pressed into counterfeit pills and falsely marketed as pharmaceutical medication (like Dilaudid “M-8” tablets and oxycodone “M30” tablets). It has also been found in vapes.
Tragically, many of these overdose victims have no idea they are ingesting these dangerous and extremely potent drugs. The DEA says these synthetic opioids currently can only be appropriately identified after a lab test, so people don’t realize they’re buying them until it’s too late.
“We want to get this info out and warn people,” says Jarod Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Washington Division. “If we can educate and inform our communities about the dangers of taking counterfeit prescription pills or other drugs, we stem the proliferation of these deadly opioids, stop all of these senseless deaths, and help keep our neighbors and loved ones safe. “
Naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, is reportedly effective in reversing overdoses due to nitazene, but larger and multiple doses might be required.
