Invented in Switzerland: “Frankenstein drug” causes countless deaths in Britain

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Stronger than heroin and deadlier than fentanyl. Nitazenes, also known as the ‘Frankenstein drug’, are artificially produced in the laboratory to imitate the effects of opioids such as heroin. They are cheap to produce and are therefore often mixed with other drugs – sometimes with fatal consequences.

Last summer Nitazene was the subject of a national warning in Britain. According to a recent report in The Sun newspaper, the “Frankenstein drug” has been linked to the deaths of 49 people in the kingdom. In the Irish capital Dublin, forty heroin addicts died of an overdose in 36 hours last month after Nitazene entered the local drug trade.

Dangerous paralysis of the respiratory system

There are several versions of the “Frankenstein drug” with varying degrees of effectiveness. Nitazene was developed in the 1950s by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Ciba. The researchers were looking for a safer alternative to morphine, which, like heroin, is obtained from opium poppies. Morphine is known for its addictive potential and paralyzing breathing.

The Ciba researchers discovered that Nitazene is very effective as a painkiller in mice. But as Joe Schwarcz, a professor of chemistry at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, told US news channel News Nation, its safety profile in humans appears to be even worse than that of morphine. In particular, the even greater suppression of the respiratory tract is a problem, which is why Nitazene has never been on the market.

Collapse of poppy production in Afghanistan

Most of the heroin on the Western black market comes from Afghanistan. The Taliban ruling there banned the cultivation of opium poppies in April 2022. According to the UN, production has since collapsed by 95 percent. This led to a boom in synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, which is especially prevalent in the United States and is responsible for numerous overdose deaths. As developments in Britain and Ireland show, drug traffickers are now increasingly turning to Nitazene to meet demand.

Some active ingredients in the nitazen class cause respiratory arrest at lower doses than fentanyl. This can be especially dangerous if the substance is added as a cutting agent to another medicine before it is put on the market – and users are therefore not even aware of the risk. Drug advocacy groups also believe that synthetic opioids are responsible for other health problems as well.

“I have holes in my legs”

Given the increasing prevalence of Nitazene, British news channel Sky News recently surveyed drug users in London and asked them if they had noticed any recent changes in the symptoms of their drug use. A 23-year-old reports something shocking: “I have holes in my legs,” she says. “There is no skin, only holes. It’s painful.” She says the strange holes in her flesh have only appeared in recent months. She doesn’t know why this is the case. “I see people coughing up blood. I see people dying,” reports one crack user.

In case of an opioid overdose, the antidote naloxone can be injected, which prevents a fatal collapse of the respiratory system. Naloxone also works on nitasenes. The British authorities therefore emphasize the importance of informing drug users about treatment options. A study published in August in the medical journal Jama Network shows that an overdose of nitazene requires a double or triple dose compared to fentanyl.

Source: Blick