Purchased online • “Then the risk of overdosing and ultimately dying increases”
Police warn of a deadly drug being sold in fake packaging.
The box is labeled oxymorphone but instead contains a fentanyl-like opioid.
– Then the risk of overdosing and ultimately dying increases, says Commissioner Kristian Malzoff.
It is on its own homepage as the Police Authority issues the stark warning. The cans bought online are labeled as oxymorphone but instead contain metonitazenn, a synthetic opioid that has so far caused 40 fatal overdoses in Sweden.
– The tablets have been sold in fake packaging. There is therefore a great risk that you think you are taking tablets that you know, but in fact it is a much more potent preparation. Then the risk of overdosing and ultimately dying increases, says Kristian Malzoff, Commissioner at Noa, National Operational Department.
May cause respiratory arrest
The drug metonitazen is classified as a narcotic in Sweden and belongs to the class nitazene, writes the Police.
In general, the drug resembles the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which has caused many fatal overdoses around the world. As with fentanyl, nitazene has a strong analgesic effect and in high doses can cause respiratory arrest.
– This is a cynical way of making money from vulnerable people, says Kristian Malzoff.
Increase in overdoses
The risk of overdose is high and in the last two years the Police Authority has seen an increase in the number of deaths linked to nitazene.
– It is mainly people who are already using opioids who run the greatest risk of dying due to this type of drug. It is often about people who have a problematic use of drugs. Most of the people who have died are between 20 and 30 years old, says Kristian Malzoff.
The packages with the fake oxymorphone tablets are marked “Oxymorphone Hydrochloride Tablets” 40 mg and 20 mg from the pharmaceutical company Aurobindo in India, the Police Authority states.