China drug a buzz killer
Illicit substances laced with opioid fentanyl spark overdose warning
HEALTH authorities have issued a warning about a spate of overdose deaths and harm caused by illicit drugs being laced with the deadly opioid fentanyl, which is being pumped out by China’s unregulated drug labs.
Crime and drug experts fear we are at the start of an opioid epidemic as the powerful and cheap synthetic chemical is used to adulterate heroin, ecstasy and cocaine.
Fentanyl is so dangerous that an amount equivalent to just four grains of salt can kill.
The same problem in the US has led to tens of thousands of fatalities.
The latest public health warning from NSW on fentanyl says “the opioids fentanyl and acetylfentanyl (which is closely related to fentanyl) have recently been identified as likely adulterants in cocaine or ketamine”.
The public is being warned to watch for symptoms of drowsiness if people have taken stimulants such as cocaine, and physical signs such as skin going blue.
Earlier this week, a man died and two women were taken to hospital after a drug overdose at Lidcombe in NSW, while on October 6, five people were found unconscious on the Central Coast from a mass drug overdose.
It is not yet clear if fentanyl – usually taken in a dose of 0.2mg with a fatal amount of just 2mg – played a role in those incidents.
Doctors use the drug for severe pain relief, but criminals are now using the China-made substance to cut other drugs.
Australian Strategic Policy
Institute’s policing and law enforcement head Dr John Coyne says sanctions against China won’t work.
Instead he argues we need to ramp up inspecting incoming mail, build on existing bilateral law enforcement, work with the Chinese government and reduce demand through education.
“The chemical pharmaceutical industry in China is massive, there are some 40,000 laboratories and chemical manufacturing sites,” he said.
“It’s incredibly difficult for the Chinese government to be able to control and regulate that.”
Musicians Prince and Tom Petty both died of accidental fentanyl overdoses, while George Floyd, whose death at the hands of a policeman sparked BLM protests, was found to have fentanyl in his bloodstream.
Another variation of fentanyl called carfentanil was originally designed to sedate elephants.