The opioid crisis has seemingly worsened across the country over the last 10 years or so.
One of the major culprits to the rising number of opioid-related deaths is fentanyl, an extremely dangerous synthetic drug that’s typically used in controlled medical settings, but is also added to illicit drugs such as heroin to make them more powerful — and cheaper to produce.
Since it’s tough to control how much to put in, though, street drugs that are laced with fentanyl can easily become fatal. In most cases, the user doesn’t even know that they’re ingesting fentanyl.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that in 2023 alone, there were more than 107,000 deaths as a result of drug overdose across the country. Of those deaths, 70% were the result of the user taking a synthetic opioid.
Now, a new shocking discovery has been made in Florida.
According to a recent report from Newsweek, authorities in the Sunshine State have discovered a new drug that’s apparently 50 times stronger than fentanyl, and it’s being distributed throughout the state.
Police in Palm Beach County recently discovered a new synthetic opioid called ISO, or N-Desethyl Isotonitazene. They found this new drug when the Organized Crime Unit of the West Palm Beach Police Department was conducting a raid recently.
A public information officer at the department, Mike Jachles, recently said that the raid resulted in 20 kilograms of ISO being seized, which has an approximate value of $1.6 million.
As Jachles said:
“Basically, we took a lot of poison off the streets. And this is serious. This is scary. It is a public health issue.”
Only one other city has identified this very potent substance so far — Philadelphia. Health officials in that city first discovered it back in December of 2022, according to Newsweek.
The individual who was arrested as part of the operation in Palm Beach was involved in distributing ISO to mimic what are safer narcotics such as Percocet and OxyContin. Ultimately, this deceives people into thinking they’re taking a drug that’s significantly less potent — and potentially lethal — as the one they’re actually taking.
The primary driver of the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States are these synthetic drugs, with fentanyl being the most common drug used.
But, ISO has started to enter the market and is obviously a huge concern for people, local communities and drug users.
Back in 2022, the Drug Enforcement Administration said that ISO often is mixed with other drugs, which consequently enhances the potency of the drug. It also reduces how much it costs to produce the drug, which is why dealers and manufacturers do it.
Because the drug has been messed with, unsuspecting victims can easily overdose on it because they don’t know how potent it really is.
In addition, it’s quite difficult for a user to accurately identify that the drug is synthetic — or that it has had a synthetic added to it.
