‘Chinese-Made’ Opioid Ten Times Stronger Than Fentanyl Kills 54

A highly addictive illegal drug manufactured in Chinese labs and said to be ten times stronger than fentanyl—which fueled the opioid epidemic in the United States—has killed 54 people in the UK in the past six months. Nitazene is a synthetic opioid hundreds of times stronger than heroin and has also been found in prescription drugs purchased online by the UK’s only national drugs-testing service. Public Health Wales has issued a warning about the dangers of buying prescription drugs online after the testing facility received over 20 samples of benzodiazepam containing nitalene since September this year. The Welsh Emerging Drugs and Identification of Novel Substances (WENDIOS) project warned there had been an influx of the highly potent synthetic street drug into the UK and that 20 samples of the Nitazene-containing benzodiazepine tablets were bought online by unsuspecting members of the public....