‘Even worse than fentanyl’: Dangerous new drug takes lives in Cincinnati and beyond

Local 12 News reported that five different types of nitazenes have been detected with two types as potent as fentanyl and others thousands of times stronger.

Hamilton County Public Health reported a 860% increase in nitazene presence in seized drug equipment. Commissioner Greg Kesterman warns that although most of the deaths have been from injectable nitazene, the drug comes in many forms.

"Sometimes when we bring a lot of press and policy attention to a certain individual drug adulterant, it might become less available,” Turner-Bicknell told Local 12 News. “So, people are looking for other means.”

Turner-Bicknell said that telling people not to do drugs isn't the only message, because the reality is that some people will still do them. She told Local 12 that educating people about doing a test dose, using a small amount, never using drugs alone and having Narcan available is important as well.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that nitazenes arrive on the heels of xylazine, another dangerous drug contaminating Hamilton County's drug supply during the opioid epidemic. Originally intended to be an animal tranquilizer, xylazine extends the euphoria for drug users but can also create skin damage so severe that amputation is necessary.

Turner-Bicknell told The Cincinnati Enquirer that both nitazenes and xylazine are the products of policy that criminalizes illicit drug use and a market that responds by churning out increasingly dangerous drugs.

"That kind of Prohibition-type of drug war, really, is like pouring gasoline on the illicit drug market," Turner-Bicknell told The Cincinnati Enquirer. "That market is always looking for something that is cheaper, faster and more potent."

Review stories featuring Tasha Turner-Bicknell online with Local 12 and The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Learn more about Tasha Turner-Bicknell online. 

Featured top image courtesy of Istock.