A powerful drug, sourced from China, and is threatening the lives of Australian addicts, can be readily purchased online, according to an investigation by The Epoch Times.
While authorities have admitted it can be purchased using Bitcoin on the “dark web”—requiring the would-be purchaser to at least understand how to access and find information on it—a short search led to multiple sites selling the drug on the open internet.
One site, claims the drug has “not yet been banned” but nonetheless notes that “deaths are on the rise” before offering buyers anything from five grams for US$185, to one kilogram for US$11,900.
It offers the option to contact the seller via WhatsApp, Wickr, or a “customer service number” that traces back to the central coast of Florida.
Nitazine—a synthetic opioid many times stronger than fentanyl—was developed by researchers in Switzerland in the 1950s but was never approved for use because of its dangerous effect on respiration.
Now it has begun to surface in Australia after its connection to deaths in the United States and UK.
One sample of the new drug was found to be 43 times more potent than fentanyl, which until recently, was the strongest opioid available to addicts.
Accidental overdoses involving fentanyl have reportedly claimed the lives of stars like Cloud, Mac Miller, Lil Peep, Tom Petty, and Prince.
Nitazines were first detected in Australian emergency room admissions in 2022, according to a paper in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology.
The Fentanyl Crisis
Governments are still struggling to stem imports of fentanyl.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2022 seized more than 58.4 million fentanyl-laced fake pills.
The agency estimates over 40 percent of illicit pills contain potentially lethal doses of fentanyl. Further, in an analysis of prescription pills laced with fentanyl, the DEA determined six out of every 10 contain potentially lethal doses.
In the 12 months ending on January 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported drug overdoses killing more than 107,000 people across the United States. Over two-thirds of those deaths involved synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl.
