San Francisco streets are reeling from deadly drug 20x more powerful than fentanyl
The streets of San Francisco are awash with a new drug called ISO that’s twenty times more potent than deadly fentanyl – and officials are sounding the alarm.The killer counterfeit opioid isotonitazene – known on the streets as ISO – claimed its first life in the drug-ravaged city in April, San Francisco Health Department officials said in an alert issued that month.San Francisco health officials said ISO was blended with another synthetic opioid called cychlorphine in the overdose death announced April 23.ISO is cheap and many times more powerful than fentanyl – making for a potential crisis.“Even a single pill can contain a lethal dose,” the officials said in their alert, which noted that the two synthetic opioids would not show up in tests that indicate the presence of fentanyl, making them even more dangerous because they’re undetectable.
A shocking video posted online showed throngs of stupefied users reeling from the effects of the deadly drug in the city’s notorious Tenderloin district.In the video created by Manhattan Institute writer Christopher Rufo, addicts are seen stooping over from the effects of the powerful drug and even lying corpselike on the sidewalk.Rufo said a dealer told him ISO is becoming more popular on the streets.“For the last ten years, it’s been an arms race for increasing the strength of opioids, from heroin to fentanyl, and now, to ISO,” said Rufo.“It’s devastating California cities.”According to the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education, isotonitazene, which is also known as Nitazine, is roughly 20 times more potent than fentanyl.
It may be smoked, used intravenously or taken in a pill. Officials with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration last month issued a new warning about ISO and other synthetic drugs that the DEA says may be mixed with fentanyl.“These emerging synthetic drugs can be significantly more powerful than fentanyl and greatly increase the risk of suffering a fatal...