SA Health warn overdoses rising on protonitazene-laced drugs

A dangerous new drug 10 times more potent than the ultra-deadly fentanyl has hit the streets of a major Australian city and health authorities are sounding the alarm bells as overdoses rise.

Protonitazene, a specific compound within the nitazene opioid class, has been found laced in oxycodone pills and other illegal drugs in Adelaide.

Last week, nurses at Royal Adelaide Hospital resuscitated a man after he consumed a pill that contained the potent opioid, part of a growing number of protonitazene overdose cases hitting the health service.

“The South Australian Toxicology and Toxinology Service and the Emerging Drug Network of Australia has notified SA Health of protonitazene overdose occurring in patients using illicitly sourced oxycodone tablets,” SATTS clinical lead Sam Alfred said in a statement.

“There is concern that protonitazene is now present in illicit oxycodone tablets in the community. The risk of overdose and death is significant for the opiate tolerant and extremely high for the opiate naive.”

In early July 2023, Dr Alfred highlighted two cases of overdoses in non-opioid users.

“In both cases, patients had consumed illicit drugs they thought to be gamma-hydroxybutyrate and methamphetamine,” he said at the time.

“Toxicological analysis identified the cause of the opioid overdose as protonitazene.

“This is the first detection of protoniazene in a clinical setting in South Australia.”

Nitazene, a highly potent synthetic opioid developed in the 1950s, can be 1000 times more powerful than morphine.

Twenty nitazene-linked deaths have already been reported in Australia as of June this year, on top of dozens of overdoses.

Health authorities across the country have issued multiple alerts for the dangerous substance, with one from NSW Health in November linking a death to nitazenes found in black market vape juice that is used to refill vape pens.

A 60 Minutes expose in June found the deadly drugs had infiltrated Australia from chemical laboratories in China.

Australian mum Claire Rocha lost her son Dylan, 21, to nitazenes three years ago after he took drugs laced with nitazenes while in England.

“I went upstairs and he was unresponsive on the bed and he was turning blue,” Ms Rocha said.

Nitazenes are in Australia and may have killed 16 people in just three years.

“But it was already too late. He’d already gone.

“And the paramedic came out and said, ‘I’m really sorry. We’ve done everything we can. Dylan has actually passed away’.

“He did make some very questionable decisions and choices, but at the end of the day, what he took, he thought he was safe in taking. He’d taken that amount before, he thought he’d be OK.

“And he wasn’t.”

Victoria, Queensland and the ACT have moved to introduce pill testing at festivals and events to reduce potential overdoses and deaths.

Victoria’s 18-month trial begins from late 2024.

“No drug is ever truly safe,” Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said on announcing the trial.

“But people deserve to know if that one pill will kill, and if someone is asking for that information and we have the power to give it to them, then why on earth wouldn’t we?”