A new form of nitazene has been detected in Australia, with experts warning the country's drug supply is riskier and more contaminated than ever. The potent synthetic opioid is increasingly found in counterfeit pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs at a time when pill testing services in Queensland will cease to exist.
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00:00A lethal synthetic opioid is spreading across Australia with deadly consequences.
00:09With nidazines coming into the market the way they have, that's going to increase the
00:13numbers of deaths.
00:14The drug is stronger than fentanyl and hundreds of times more potent than heroin.
00:20It's being found in illicit substances such as counterfeit pharmaceuticals, cocaine, even
00:26vapes.
00:27There was a cluster of people that were vaping nidazines, they were unaware that they were
00:33becoming opioid dependent and one person presented to an emergency department with opioid withdrawal.
00:38A new nidazine called Protodez nidazine has been detected in Australia for the first time
00:45after it was seized by Queensland police.
00:48As far as I can tell this one sits somewhere in the middle, it's not the most potent nidazine
00:52out there but it's still a potent nidazine.
00:54Experts believe criminals are designing new nidazines to evade detection.
00:59As soon as one drug is found and there starts to be regulations around that particular product
01:04they try to go ahead and make more and different ones.
01:07At a time when the drug supply market is riskier and more contaminated than ever, the Queensland
01:13government will close two pill testing sites today in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast.
01:19To see announcements about that being shut down, look it's breathtaking and at the end
01:26of the day I'm scared that the next time I have to do an interview it will be to reflect
01:32on somebody's death.
01:34Nidazines have been detected in fake pharmaceuticals on three separate occasions during testing
01:39in Queensland in the past five months.
01:43People are turning to alternative markets such as the black market to access drugs such
01:48as say ozempic type derivatives for weight loss.
01:51So it's not just about opioids.
01:53Unlike other states, Queensland doesn't have an overdose monitoring system or a public
01:59drug alert network.
02:01Which means that we don't really know these drugs are circulating unless either a drug
02:05checking service detects it or unfortunately someone overdoses and ends up in hospital
02:09or passing away.