Image Credit: DEA.gov
The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
Doctors have issued a warning to citizens of a drug that is thousands of times more powerful than morphine is getting into the hands of Tennesseans and taking lives.
According to physicians, Nitazenes is a synthetic opioid that has been around since the 1950s but was never approved for use in humans because of its potency. Doctors now say they are seeing cases involving the drug more frequently.
Dr. Shravani Durbhakula, associate professor of Anesthesiology, Division of Pain Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told News2 that the most commonly seen form of the drug is 20 times stronger than fentanyl.
“There are many forms and they are being laced into other drugs right now, and they are an evolving and serious health threat,” Durbhakula said.
The drug is manufactured in China in its early phase, and, when mixed with other drugs, can be potentially fatal to unknowing users.
“The CDC has data, we know there are deaths, there have been at least 93 if not more in the state of Tennessee alone,” Durbhakula continued.
She noted that it can be difficult to detect the drug and reversing an overdose can take two or three times the standard dose of naloxone used to combat opioid overdoses.
