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Health workers say powerful new synthetic opioid calls for improved state testing

Stock photo of pills spilling out of three prescription drug bottles.
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A new type of synthetic opioid more potent than fentanyl is cropping up across the country. State health officials and law enforcement are on the lookout.

Benzimidazoles, which are more commonly called nitazenes, are a versatile class of drugs. But nitazenes can also be formed into powerful synthetic opioids that are about 20 times more potent than fentanyl.

Nitizenes have been detected in counterfeit pills made to look like common pharmaceutical drugs.

While not reported yet in Montana, they have been detected in the D.C. area, Tennessee and the Midwest. However, it’s hard to know how much of the drug supply might be impacted.

Jeffrey Singer writes about drug policy for the CATO Institute, a libertarian think tank.

“So we’re starting to see it more, but most labs are not familiar with it, not checking for it. So for all we know, it’s even more prevalent,” Singer said.

Montana health officials and the state crime lab said they can test for some but not all types of netizens. They said they are bolstering their testing capabilities.

There hasn’t been a documented death from a netizen overdose in Montana.

Aaron graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Journalism in 2015 after interning at Minnesota Public Radio. He landed his first reporting gig in Wrangell, Alaska where he enjoyed the remote Alaskan lifestyle and eventually moved back to the road system as the KBBI News Director in Homer, Alaska. He joined the MTPR team in 2019. Aaron now reports on all things in northwest Montana and statewide health care.
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