CBS NEWS: by Kerry Breen
A Colorado overdose death has been linked to a new formulation of nitazenes, a class of powerful opioid analgesics being increasingly seen in the illicit drug market.
Nitazenes have been around for decades, experts told CBS News, and have been seen in multiple formulations. The person who died in Colorado had used a formulation called N-Desethyl etonitazene. The man died in mid-2023, Denver officials said, but laboratory testing about the substance he overdosed on was not returned until recently.
It’s believed to be the first time that formulation was found in an overdose death, according to the Boulder County Coroner’s office.
The coroner told CBS News that while Denver has seen a decrease in fentanyl overdoses, use of nitazenes has emerged — which “raises new concerns.”
What are nitazenes?
Nitazenes were first developed in the 1950s and early 1960s, said Claire Zagorski, a chemist, paramedic and translational scientist in Austin, Texas. At the time, they weren’t illicit drugs, but were intended to be sold commercially. That never happened, Zagorski said, and in recent years, those original formulations have been used as a backbone by illicit drug manufacturers to make new synthetic opioids amid a crackdown on substances like fentanyl.