More powerful than fentanyl: two lethal drugs add to US overdose crisis

A CDC report is raising the alarm about para-fluorofentanyl and metonitazene, substances so potent some victims succumb before injecting a full syringe

They are often taken with or mixed with fentanyl, the drug mainly responsible for the more than 100,000 US fatalities last year

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US overdose deaths have been rising for more than two decades, but they accelerated in the past two years – jumping more than 20 per cent in the latest year alone. Photo: TNS

Published: 5:35am, 28 Jan 2022

Emerging reports show that two little-known drugs are making lethal new contributions to America’s drug overdose crisis.

Para-fluorofentanyl and metonitazene are being seen more often by medical examiners looking into overdose deaths, according to a government report published on Thursday.

They are often taken with – or mixed with – illicit fentanyl, the drug mainly responsible for the more than 100,000 US overdose deaths in the last year.

Increasingly, one or the other of the two drugs is the sole reason for some overdose deaths, said Dr Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan, one of the report authors. Often injected or snorted, they are more powerful than fentanyl, she said.

The overdose-reversing drug naloxone, also known as Narcan, can still work, but more of it may be needed than when other drugs are involved. Photo: TNS

“These (victims) just crumple and collapse. Frequently they don’t even inject the full syringe” before overdosing, said Mileusnic-Polchan, who leads the medical examiner’s office in Knoxville, Tennessee.