UN sounds alarm on super-strength opioids

[Pelican Press 0]

UN sounds alarm on super-strength opioids

The use of nitazenes, a group of drugs which can be more potent than fentanyl, is spreading across Europe and North America, the UN ***** agency has warned.

The synthetic opioids have been detected in the ***, US, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Belgium and Canada, the UN Office on Drugs and ****** (UNODC) wrote in

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.

There has also been an increase in the number of deadly overdoses connected with nitazenes.

The super-strength drugs, of which there are several types, are significantly more potent than *******. Their emergence has prompted urgent warnings from health agencies around the world.

It follows a

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, which saw opium production drop by 95% in 2022.

It is too early to know what long-term effects this may have on factors such as ******* purity, the UNODC report says, but it will likely lead to ******* users switching to other opioids, which may “lead to an increase in overdoses”.

A

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found nitazenes are being smuggled into the *** inside dog food and catering supplies, and being offered for ***** on social media.

The *** has classed nitazenes as class A drugs, with anyone caught making or supplying them facing life in prison. But experts say the government has been too slow to take action in getting the ***** off the streets.

Fentanyl, another synthetic opioid, is 50 times more powerful than *******. Its highly-publicised epidemic in the US contributed to 100,000 deaths in 2022, according to the Center for ******** Control and Prevention.

The UNODC’s report states that “illicitly manufactured fentanyls” are still behind “unprecedented number of overdose deaths,” the numbers “may be tapering off.”

Global ***** use increased by 20% in the past decade to 292 million users in 2022, the report said.

Cannabis ******** the most widely used with 228 million users worldwide. It is followed by:

• Opioids – 60 million
• Amphetamines – 30 million
• ******** – 23 million
• Ecstasy – 20 million

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#sounds #alarm #superstrength #opioids

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