A Drug 40-60 times more powerful than fentanyl has been found in Philadelphia’s unregulated drug supply.
A new class of deadly drug called Nitazenes has been linked to the deaths of 5 Philadelphians dating back to 2022 according to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office.
Nitazenes are powerful synthetic opioids that are confirmed to be thousands of times more powerful than morphine and 40-60 times stronger than fentanyl according to recent lab tests. The drug crisis was already at an apex in 2022, the last year full data is available, and a new drug entering the underground market will only exacerbate illegal usage.
Nitazenes cause a high similar to heroin or fentanyl, but their potency makes them much more dangerous. Withdrawal symptoms are extremely painful and happen quicker than other opioids, forcing addicts to use more frequently. Narcan can still be used to counteract an overdose, but an increased dose will be necessary due to the strength of these drugs.
Reports indicate that users are in the early stages of understanding the drug and do not have the means to test for it. Strips to test for other opioids like fentanyl and xylazine are available, but not for Nitazenes. Until recently, medical examiners did not include this class of drugs in toxicology tests, making it difficult to educate the public about their existence.
The illegal drug epidemic in Pennsylvania needs to be fixed, but by whom?
Businessman Dave McCormick, the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, blames the scourge of deadly synthetic drugs like fentanyl flooding southeast Pennsylvania on China and the ‘open’ southern border.
Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks) who represents the Philadelphia suburb of Bucks County attempted to add border funding to an aid bill last month, a move he claimed would be “bad news for the Mexican drug cartels.”
Leadership in the city, however, is split on how to deal with this new drug and the drug crisis as a whole. Solutions range from ‘safe injection’ sites, a practice that many argue is counterproductive, to making Narcan widely available.
The Democrat-controlled Philadelphia city council last year voted 14-1 to effectively ban safe injection sites within the city, overriding former Democrat mayor Kenney’s veto of the ban. This vote came after an uproar from concerned citizens, and a court ruling blocked the original plans to open the country’s first “supervised injection site” in the U.S. for users of heroin, fentanyl, and other opiates.
Until another solution to the problem is found, officials are prioritizing blanketing the city with the opioid overdose reversal medication naloxone. In a statement to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daniel Teixeira da Silva, the medical director of the city health department’s division of substance use prevention and harm reduction, further reinforced this strategy saying, “we have to continue to saturate the city of Philadelphia with naloxone and make sure that everyone’s educated.”
