(ReclaimingAmerica.net) – As though Democrat-run big cities didn’t have enough trouble with drug addiction already, especially against the backdrop of a tsunami of narcotics arriving thanks to President Joe Biden’s illegal immigrant invasion, the streets of Philadelphia are now seeing an illicit substance 40 times deadlier than fentanyl.
In Philadelphia, a class of synthetic opioids known as nitazene analogues has been identified as a contributing factor to a significant increase in drug-related fatalities, The Daily Wire reports.
These substances, which can be up to 40 times more potent than fentanyl, have been linked to at least five deaths in the city, with an additional dozen fatalities potentially attributable to them.,
“The health department suspects that a nitazene analogue known as N-desethyl isotonitazene was present in 12 overdose deaths in Philadelphia between November and December 2022,” The Philadelphia Inquirer writes in a report.
Furthermore, two other variants of nitazene analogues were discovered in the system of an individual who succumbed to an overdose in June 2023.
While naloxone is commonly utilized to counteract the effects of fentanyl overdose, its standard dosage may prove inadequate against the powerful impact of nitazenes.
These drugs are known to induce severe withdrawal symptoms, making it exceedingly difficult for those affected to endure the wait for inpatient treatment.
According to a study conducted by researchers at Jefferson University Hospital, “Often in Philadelphia, people looking to enter inpatient treatment must first go through an intake process that can take hours and sometimes days.”
Daniel Teixeira da Silva, the medical director of the city health department’s division of substance use prevention and harm reduction, expressed the challenges faced by those addicted to these potent substances.
“Someone who’s dependent on a very toxic drug supply has a very small window in which they feel well enough to even consider treatment. It’s really a vicious cycle, and this just makes it worse,” Da Silva said.
The U.S. Department of Justice shed light on the issue of nitazenes, also referred to as Benzimidazole-Opioids, in January.
“Recently, a number of synthetic substances of the benzimidazole structural class are being trafficked and abused for their opioid-like effects… The population likely to abuse benzimidazole-opioids appears to be the same as those abusing prescription opioid analgesics, heroin, and other synthetic opioid substances… In the illicit drug market, some of these benzimidazole-opioids have been identified in drug seizures… Since 2019, there have been over 4,300 reports of benzimidazole-opioids to NFLIS-Drug… With no approved medical use, the positive identification of these substances in toxicology cases underscore the public health threat associated with their presence in the illicit drug market,” the DOJ explained.
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