At least two more people poisoned by fake oxycodone pills
At least two Dutch people have been admitted to the hospital with nitazene poisoning after taking contaminated, illegal oxycodone pills. Two other people are hospitalized with similar symptoms of poisoning, but the source is still being investigated, the National Poison Information Center reported to Nieuwsuur.
Last week, the Dutch authorities announced that a person had died from poisoning after taking an oxycodone pill contaminated with nitazene. The authorities warned that counterfeit oxycodone pills were circulating in the Netherlands. The painkillers don’t contain oxycodone, but the potentially deadly nitazene sotonitazepyne. Nitazenes are much stronger than morphine and fentanyl, and even a tiny amount can prove deadly.
Nitazene is a substance that mimics the effect of oxycodone, Marcel Bouvy, a professor of pharmaceutical patient care at Utrecht University, explained to Nieuwsuur. “But it works in a much lower concentration. You only need a pinpoint of it, while for oxycodone you need a knife point, so to speak.”
There is a strong illegal market for oxycodone because the painkiller is very addictive, even if prescribed for only short periods. According to Bouvy, it is attractive for drug criminals to sell nitazene as oxycodone. “Oxycodone is derived from morphine and is a complicated substance to make. Nitazenes are simpler chemicals that are much easier to make. Drug dealers can make it cheaply themselves, and you need very little of it.”
In March last year, the police found a large amount of nitazene in the Netherlands - the first time the deadly drug had been discovered in the country.
