US officials are tackling the drug addiction crisis in various cities across the country. Photo: Getty.
New drug Nitazin, 40 times more potent than fentanyl and 800 times more potent than morphine, has alerted US officials, who are facing a drug addiction crisis in several cities.
This narcotic is potentially fatal and can cause a more rapid onset of withdrawal. Authorities have found it in powder, pill or liquid form and mixed with heroin, painkillers and cocaine.
According to axios, hospitals have not been able to differentiate cases of nitazine poisoning from those caused by fentanyl. Experts explain that discovering new drugs in laboratories is a slow process.
Nightzens were created six decades ago from synthetic components. At the time, it was intended to act as a substitute for morphine; However, its development was canceled due to the high potential for overdose discovered in the studies.
A public alert was issued after nitazine was found in four drug samples in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Cases of that drug overdose in Tennessee are set to increase from 10 in 2020 to 42 in 2021. Between the first quarter of 2021 and 2022, nitazine cases jumped from 27 to 143.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports that the proliferation of synthetic drugs such as nitazine is a public health problem.
(in Spanish with info from RT)
