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‘One pill will kill’: Florida AG warns of ‘Frankenstein’ opioid 40 times more potent than fentanyl

February 26, 2023 | | Print Article

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 with some of these nitazene compounds that message is becoming, one pill will kill,” Moody told Fox News Digital (FND) this week. “It is important to bring awareness to Floridians of all ages—do not take any illicit drug, just one use could cost you your life.”

According to Moody’s office, compounds such as isotonitazene (ISO) are “significantly more potent than fentanyl.”

Florida first recorded nitazenes in the Sunshine State in 2020. By 2022, Florida’s Department of Law Enforcement recorded 140 instances in which the drug was found in the state. Thus far, 34 instances have been recorded in 2023.

“Last year, I signed an emergency rule temporarily adding these deadly nitazene compounds to the Schedule I controlled substance list,” Moody told FND. “I am proud to announce my support for SB 736, which will permanently add these incredibly deadly drugs to the Schedule I list.”

Nitazenes are often mixed with heroin or fentanyl, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).

“Nitazenes were synthesized in the 1950s as novel opioids, but their prospects were cut short when unacceptable toxicities of sedation and respiratory depression were noted,” the AAFP explains. “Unregulated laboratories in China have more recently been manufacturing the nitazenes  currently circulating in North America.”

Cheaper than both fentanyl and heroin to produce, those using illicit substances often don’t know they’ve been laced with the killer compounds.

Ohio first sounded the alarm over the nitazenes last April.

“Frankenstein opioids are even more lethal than the drugs already responsible for so many overdose deaths,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said at the time, according to FND. “Law enforcement and the public need to pay attention to these emerging hazards.”

Nitazenes have reportedly been found from San Francisco to the mid-Atlantic, FND states, and, according to the AAFP, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “has tracked a cluster of nitazine-related deaths in Tennessee.”

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares told FND that the effect of the Frankenstein opioids will have a “devastating” effect on his state if action isn’t quickly taken to stop their flow.

“It’s no secret that the opioid epidemic has destroyed communities nationwide – including many Virginia localities.,” he told FND. “‘Frankenstein’ opioids, which are even more powerful than the incredibly lethal and potent fentanyl, are the newest variation and are guaranteed to have a devastating effect on Virginians if we do not take swift and decisive action.”

To that end, Miyares is leading a coalition of 21 state attorneys general that are calling on the Biden administration to declare drug cartels as “Foreign Terrorist Organizations.” In the meantime, he is championing the “One Pill Can Kill” campaign across his state.

And in Washington D.C., the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) warned residents in June 2022 of “ISO” specifically.

“First identified around 2019 in the Midwest, this dangerous drug has moved into the Southern states and, more recently, along the Eastern seaboard,” the DEA stated at the time. “Much more potent than heroin and morphine (similar to fentanyl), ISO is being mixed into and marketed as other drugs to make drugs more potent and cheaper to produce. The major concern: This drug can and has caused deadly overdoses in unsuspecting victims.”

 

 

Melissa Fine
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