New Synthetic Opioid Complicates Public Health Response to Overdoses

A synthetic opioid up to 40 times more powerful than fentanyl is scrambling the public health response to the addiction crisis in a growing number of U.S. cities. Nitazine comes in powder, pill and liquid form and requires time-consuming lab work to trace. Often laced into substances that users think is fentanyl or heroin, it's potentially lethal or can cause a more severe onset of withdrawal symptoms. A CDC review of overdose deaths in Tennessee concluded nitazene-related overdoses could require up to four doses of naloxone, the opioid reversal drug that usually comes two to a pack. New, more dangerous drugs could be entering the U.S. supply at a pace labs and clinicians aren't equipped to keep up with, said Steven Passik, Millennium Health's head of clinical data programs. See more from Axios here.