Fake Dilaudid containing potent opioid connected to N.L. sudden death: RNC
Protonitazine is three times more potent than fentanyl, police warn
Police are warning about the presence of protonitazine in pills being sold as Dilaudid on the northeast Avalon, saying the synthetic opioid was discovered in a toxicology report in connection to a recent sudden death.
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary said Wednesday in a news release that the pressed pills look "almost identical" to Dilaudid, the brand name for hydromorphone, which is commonly prescribed as a painkiller.
However, those counterfeit pills contain protonitazine, a drug three times more potent than fentanyl that's "known to have fatal effects in minute doses," said the release.
Protonitazine is a part of the nitazene family of drugs, which have been seen with increasing frequency in Canada in recent years. Police first seized nitazene in Newfoundland and Labrador in November in a large-scale drug bust in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
A Memorial University professor told CBC News at the time that nitazenes aren't easily detected by sight and have widely varying potencies, making dosing difficult.
The RNC is urging anyone taking illicit drugs to refrain from using alone and keep a naloxone kit nearby to temporarily reverse an opioid overdose.
Police also said anyone calling 911 to report an overdose is protected from drug possession charges by the Good Samaritan Act.
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