Two young men in Texas have lost their lives to a drug that is considered far stronger than fentanyl.
Earlier this year, Lucci Reyes-McCallister, 22, died near Houston after taking what he thought was Xanax, according to his mother, Grey McCallister. The pill turned out to be laced with a form of nitazene, a drug that by some estimates is considered 43 times stronger than fentanyl, and 250 times more potent than heroin.
Tragically, just three months later, in April, Lucci’s friend, Hunter Clement, 21, succumbed to the same drug after believing he was taking a Percocet. His mother, Ruthi Clement, said she found her son face down in bed. Attempts to revive him using two doses of Narcan were unsuccessful.
Nitazenes are synthetic opioids that are produced in China. Their potency means smaller amounts can easily be smuggled into countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, with devastating consequences. Like fentanyl, nitazenes are often found mixed among other drugs, like pills and heroin.
The drug is so potent that even small, trace amounts can be fatal.
“They buy potent nitazenes cheaply and mix them with bulking agents such as caffeine and paracetamol to strengthen the product being sold and make significant profits,” U.K. National Crime Agency Deputy Director Charles Yates told The Wall Street Journal.
While fentanyl tends to dominate headlines because of its prevalence, nitazense reports are rising. Nitazenes were found in no less than 4,300 drug seizures in the United States since 2019. The drug is often discovered in fentanyl mixtures and has been tied to dozens of deaths.
And it is not just pills and powders where the drug has been discovered.
Earlier this month, a man in Sydney, Australia, was arrested for selling vapes that were “supercharged” with nitazenes.
In the United States alone, there are estimated to be 17 different strains of the powerful drug circulating.