A LETHAL Frankenstein narcotic that can kill its victims in the smallest of doses is increasingly being found in vapes and party drugs.
Chelsea Curtis, from the US Attorney’s Narcotics Unit, told The Sun how her older brother Scott, 32, tragically died after he unknowingly took cocaine laced with the deadly opioids called Nitazenes.
Scott had taken a line of the laced coke when he got out of the shower before suddenly collapsing on the floor where he died.
The fatal super-strength drug, which is being smuggled from China, is hundreds of times stronger than fentanyl and is leaving thousands of victims in its wake.
The UK is now in the midst of a “drug-related crisis”, scientists declared, with nearly 300 nitazene-related deaths recorded between June 2023 and August 2024.
And in the US, 75,000 people have died in overdoses after taking synthetic opioids like nitazenes and fentanyl in the last year alone.
Scott is one of the tragic victims of this crisis, with the beloved brother dying in August 2022.
It was found the cocaine he took contained both fentanyl and a nitazene – two of the most deadly opioids.
His was the first confirmed case in Central Florida of an overdose involving nitazene.
Curtis who now lives in Virginia explained: “My brother was just getting out of the shower, took a line of what he thought was just cocaine, and hit the floor.”
“He thought he was taking cocaine. It was fentanyl and isotonitazene.
The presence of nitazenes in street drugs, vaping liquids, nasal sprays and fake prescription medications is “of most concern” Jared Brown, Scientific Affairs Officer for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime told The Sun.
Siblings Alex and Keeley from Essex lost their father to the drug in July 2023 while he was recovering from heroin addiction.
The unnamed 50-year-old had reduced his alcohol and drug consumption but one of the substances he had taken contained the deadly opioid, they told the BBC.
The pair who wanted to keep their real names hidden said that their father “was handed a death sentence as soon as he was sold [the drugs].”
“As soon as you’re anywhere near that substance, it’s lethal.”
The siblings were “unable to say a proper goodbye” to their father “because of the toxicity of the drugs,” Keeley added.
But it is not only heroin and cocaine users who are at risk.
Anne Jacques, a heartbroken mother, lost her son Alex to nitazene after he took a fake prescription pill.
She told the BBC in a separate interview that it was like losing “half of herself.”
Alex Harpum, 23, was found dead at his student flat on July 17, 2023, after taking a substance that was found to be contaminated with nitazene.
What are Nitazenes?
Nitazenes are hundreds of times stronger than fentanyl, which is lethal in amounts equivalent to two or three grains of salt
They are a group of synthetic opioids that were created in the 1950s as a new form of pain relief but were abandoned due to their potency.
The strength of these drugs is so high and unpredictable that Naloxone, a treatment saving people from drug overdoses, is not guaranteed to work.
There are over 20 reported types of nitazenes, including metonitazene, etonitazene, and isotonitazene, which have been dubbed “Frankenstein drugs” due to their unpredictable potency.
They can relieve pain and induce feelings of euphoria but also cause respiratory depression which can cause users to pass out, enter a coma, become dependent or die.
According to The Toxicology Unit at Imperial College London, the deadly substances have been found in street heroin and cocaine as well as vaping liquids, nasal sprays and fake prescription drugs.
Phone records showed that the aspiring opera singer had tried to buy Xanax pills online, which are only available with a private prescription.
Jacques believes her son had been trying to aid his sleep which was interrupted due to his ADHD medication.
The use of such drugs in fake pills and vaping liquids is likely going to target younger people who are perhaps more trusting of online pharmacies and who have turned to vaping.
But the path out of the opioid crisis and in tackling the emergence of new, more lethal products remains complex and unclear especially as the threat of these new opiates is often not enough to scare addicts into going sober.
“I’ve lost two brothers, and it lives with me every day,” Curtis said.
“There’s not a day that goes by where literally, I don’t think about them, or how I can work to end the stigma around addiction.”
She is now “dedicating every day of her life” to prosecuting drug dealers and getting help for addicts including her younger brother and sister-in-law.
Scott’s death is not the only heartbreaking loss the 35-year-old has suffered as a result of drugs.
She lost Scott’s twin brother Steven in August 2009 at the age of 30 from a heroin overdose and her stepfather from cirrhosis of the liver due to alcohol and drug use.
Curtis has also had to navigate the ongoing opiate addiction of her mother who has been using for more than 30 years while watching her younger brother Robert get hooked on drugs at just 12 years old.
Growing up in a household with parents “experimenting” with drugs “just kind of added fuel to the fire,” she said.
‘THEY DON’T CARE’
Despite the tragic family deaths and the emergence of highly potent and deadly substances laced with other drugs have not been enough to turn the tide on her surviving relatives’ addictions.
Relentless drug dealers have even targeted the family’s grief caused by their own products to turn a profit, Curtis sickeningly revealed.
She said: “We know the drug dealer that has given both [Scott and Steven] the drugs that killed them and he has been supplying my family for years.
“When Scott passed in 2022, the morning of his funeral, he was at my grandmother’s house, giving my little brother drugs.
“The guy knew that he killed my brother. He even made a comment to my little brother saying, ‘I know his funeral is today so this will just kind of like take the edge off,’ so they don’t care.”
She confronted Robert about using the same dealer whose nitazene-laced drugs killed Scott and the depths of his addiction and the tactics used by dealers were revealed.
“He was just always like, ‘Oh, well, he [the dealer] would look out for me,’ I think that when you’re just in the depths of addiction you don’t care,” Curtis recalled.
“And as far as the remorse on the dealer side. They don’t care about the people. They’re just there to make a profit. That’s their livelihood.”
Two months after Scott’s death, Curtis tried to save her younger brother from the same fate by relocating to Virginia and getting him into a treatment facility.
After 16 years of taking opiates, he is now in recovery and she has successfully got her sister-in-law in a treatment program but Curtis has guilt about Scott.
“Sometimes I think if I would have been able to get him help because had I been 2 months before maybe it would have been different,” she said.
‘TOO LATE’
As well as working in the narcotics unit, Curtis works with a community outreach programme aimed to educate children and young adults while fighting the stigma of addiction.
She and the team have visited middle schools with pupils as young as 11 but found often “it’s too late, the kids are already addicted to drugs.”
“It’s just sad all the way around. It’s almost like you can’t go to the grocery store, and run into somebody where addiction hasn’t touched them or their families,” she said.
Despite education on the deadly effects of nitazenes and other opioids, they are rising in use and being found in a variety of products.
BRACE FOR THE WORST
Toxicologists across the globe have warned of a sharp rise in deaths caused by Nitazenes over the past few years.
The Lancet declared that “the UK is in the midst of a drug-related crisis” as other officials said it is the most dangerous time to take drugs.
Between June 2023 and August 2024, 284 nitazene-related deaths were recorded in the UK, with officials warning that they are coming from China.
Since 2021, the US recorded 106,699 overdose deaths, with 88% of these being connected to synthetic opioids like fentanyl and nitazenes—75,000 of these deaths occurred last year alone.
While not yet as bad as what is being seen in the US, scientists say that “the creeping rise in nitazene-related deaths is likely the tip of the iceberg” as these new drugs are not routinely tested for.
The UK National Crime Agency has noted “a significant escalation in the criminal use of nitazenes as a cheap way to increase the strength of certain drugs, particularly heroin.”
The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime told The Sun that the amount of different nitazenes they have so far detected “continues to increase” and currently sits at 22.
“This provides challenges for detection and how to deal with overdoses,” Brown said.
He added that “reports from across the world are increasing of such events which can lead to [overdose] outbreaks.”
Numerous countries have been warned about the rise in such drugs and told about the dangers and how they can take action to reduce overdose events.
But, the United Nations officer warned that officials across the globe must better prepare “for outbreaks of overdose events” due to these illicit drugs.
In the UK, guidance has been issued to councils about planning for a rise in synthetic opioids as the government prepares for the worst.
GETTING HELP:
If you think that you have a drug addiction then please contact your GP.
You can also visit FRANK for honest information about drugs and to find local treatment services.
If you are having trouble finding the right help, call the FRANK drugs helpline on 03001236600
Or click here to visit the NHS website for more advice and support
You make me happy @adamcollard 
What a summer x”
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