Updated: Dec. 28, 2023 at 7:00 AM
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Dr. Jeremy Dubin, Chief Medical Officer of the Front Range Clinic, discusses the alarming discovery of the dangerous new opioid Nitazenes in Boulder County.
Health experts say nitazene could be significantly more potent than fentanyl.
Good evening and thank you for joining us tonight. I’m Jessica Porter.
I’m Shannon Ogden. And tonight, a deadly new drug has been detected for the very first time in Colorado. And experts warn that nitazene could be much more deadly than fentanyl.
Denver Seven’s Danielle Kreutter was in Boulder today, where that new drug is now being blamed for at least two overdoses.
They’re not regulated. There’s no quality control, which means you don’t really know what you’re taking.
Sergeant Patrick Compton can’t show his face on TV. He works undercover with the Boulder County Drug Task Force. They’re keeping an eye out after a deadly non-fentanyl opioid was detected in Boulder county. Two people died of overdoses. It’s one of the first time nitazenes have been detected across the country. The painkiller was created back in the 1950s.
It was never accepted by the FDA to go out into the general public, so it’s now getting synthesized in counterfeit labs. Very similar effects like other opioids like heroin, fentanyl, and things along those lines. However, we were finding that they’re about 40 to 100 times more potent than morphine and fentanyl.
Another challenge, there are several different nitazene compounds. The deaths in Boulder county were caused by two different variations.
Anytime there’s something new out there, it takes time and data to come in to figure out how it’s affecting people, figure out if there are any ways people can protect themselves better than we already typically do.
Until we get a better idea on how to detect them, how to understand how they act in our bodies better, how they interact with other drugs and alcohol, we need to be proactive as a community.
Dr. Jeremy Dubin works with Colorado’s largest network of substance abuse treatment centers. He says, right now, it’s important for people who struggle with addiction to know there is help.
Ask for help, and people understand. Out there in the treatment circles.
Law Enforcement is encouraging people who use drugs to always have Narcan on them anytime they’re using. Right now, they say they don’t believe there’s a large presence of the drug in Boulder county.
It’s not that it won’t be a bigger problem in the future. It probably will be. We just haven’t seen it since this is the first one. It’s really hard to tell how big of a problem this could end up being.
And a study published in the journal JAMA Network shows that most patients who overdose on nitazene receive two or more doses of the opioid reversal drug naloxone, also known as Narcan. That’s compared to most patients who overdose on fentanyl, who receive just a single dose.
Someone is faced with an overdose, activate 911 immediately, even if you are administering Narcan.
According to CDC estimates, more than 150 people die each day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids.
And new tonight, local organizations receiving a total of $4 million to help address the opioid crisis. The groups are getting grants. They’re on your screen there. They include the Boys and Girls Club, Larimer County Sheriff’s Office and CDPHE. They were selected by a committee based on their work to counter opioid use in Colorado. The money comes from lawsuits filed against drug manufacturers and distributors that resulted in $740,000,000 in settlements.
