Experts Warn Of Synthetic Opioids Flooding Australia, Call for Immediate Response

Health experts in Australia have issued warnings about the dangers of powerful synthetic opioids that were flooding the market, and were 100 times stronger than heroin.

The experts have urged the authorities to act quickly to stop the predicted spike in overdoses, as the opioids were found to be laced in certain batches of cocaine.

Coordinated action is required because specialists fear the situation might have a disastrous impact similar to what has happened in the U.S. at a time when drugs like cocaine and ketamine were being found to include chemicals like fentanyl and nitazenes more frequently.

In June, a Victoria police investigation found the presence of synthetic opioids in the bodies of four people, including a 17-year-old boy, who were found dead in a Melbourne home.

"The way the market works is rather mysterious but there is no reason to think that we're immune to this for any reason," chief executive of Harm Reduction Victoria Sione Crawford told ABC.

Pain and emotion-controlling regions of the brain are bound by opioid molecules, which are depressants. This might result in unconsciousness or even respiratory failure. An overdose can result in a dosage of as little as a grain of rice.

The National Centre for Health Statistics estimates that 107,543 people died in the U.S. from drug overdoses in 2023, and 74,702 of those deaths were related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

Over the past year, low-level opioids, known as nitazine variants, which are similar to fentanyl but stronger and acting more quickly, have been circulating in Australia. Nick Kent, policy and advocacy manager at Harm Reduction Victoria, reports that these powerful chemicals have been worryingly found in certain cocaine sources lately, News.co.au reports.

Kent added that variants of nitazene "has shown up in some cocaine supplies in Australia in recent times, which is an alarming trend."

"Our colleagues and sister organizations in countries like Canada and the US are seeing these adulterant drugs become really, really present in the drug supply," Kent said.

"We do see that happen within the illicit opiate market but also within a wide range of drug markets. It's affecting everyone, and as we know, a wide range of people in society so the risk is broad."

Even though Australia managed to avert such a crisis, authorities still remain on high alert.