Free Republic

Two deaths in Boulder County, Colorado, in 2023 are the latest in the U.S. to be blamed on the powerful class of synthetic opioids called nitazenes. Most health systems cannot detect nitazenes, so the exact number of overdoses is unknown, but they’re implicated in more than 200 deaths in Europe and North America since 2019, including 11 in Colorado since 2021. One of the two Boulder County deaths is linked to a new formulation called N-Desethyl etonitazene, which was identified by a national laboratory, and is thought to be the first related death. The Conversation interviewed Dr. Christopher Holstege, professor...

Florida’s Attorney General, Republican Ashley Moody, is calling on her state to add a frightening new “Frankenstein” opioid that is reportedly 40 times more potent than fentanyl to the list of Schedule 1 controlled substances, a designation that stipulates the drug has no acceptable medical use and carries a high risk for abuse. Other drugs to receive that classification include heroin, ecstasy, and peyote, among others. Officially known as “nitazene compounds,” Moody warns “one pill will kill,” and it’s already spreading across America. “For years, I have been warning about how just one pill laced with fentanyl can kill, but...

Drug enforcement officials are now warning about a new group of opioids, ten times stronger than fentanyl, which has been linked to a recent surge in overdoses. “Laboratory test results indicate that the potency of certain nitazene analogs [e.g., isotonitazene, protonitazene, and etonitazene] greatly exceeds that of fentanyl, whereas the potency of the analog metonitazene is similar to fentanyl,” explained a team of researchers from the Tennessee Department of Health. Deaths linked to drugs are on the rise. In their report issued Friday, Jessica Korona-Bailey and colleagues said that “four times as many nitazene-involved overdoses were identified in Tennessee in...