By Lachlan Abbott
A synthetic opioid has been detected in the bodies of four people found dead in a Broadmeadows home last week, intensifying fears of an overdose crisis engulfing Australia like it has overseas.
The discovery comes after Victoria’s Health Department this week warned a white powder sold in Melbourne as cocaine contained protonitazene, a type of novel synthetic opioid 100 times stronger than heroin that authorities are increasingly seizing at the Australian border.
Forensic police in protective gear investigate the house where the bodies of four people were found in Broadmeadows.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
In May, The Age revealed the surge in nitazene seizures had sparked fears among medical professionals a wave of overdoses could follow.
On Thursday morning, Victoria Police did not explicitly say the nitazene-laced cocaine was linked to the four bodies found in a Bicknell Court home early on June 25, but said it was aware the Health Department had issued a warning about synthetic opioids.
“While forensic testing remains ongoing, preliminary tests have confirmed the presence of a synthetic opioid in the system of all four people,” police said in a statement, adding no traces of fentanyl were found.
“The deaths of the 37-year-old man, 32-year-old man, 17-year-old boy and 42-year-old woman are still being treated as non-suspicious at this time.”
The Health Department alert issued on Tuesday said cocaine laced with protonitazene had caused “recent serious harms in Melbourne”.
When asked if this referred to the quadruple fatality in Broadmeadows, a spokeswoman declined to answer.
Dr Annie Madden, the executive director of Harm Reduction Australia, said the synthetic opioid link to four deaths in Melbourne’s north was “extremely concerning for the Victorian and wider Australian community”.
“We have witnessed the devastation caused by synthetic opioids across North America over the past 10 years with hundreds of thousands of deaths,” Madden said in a statement.
“There has been a steady increase in the detection of synthetic opioids, especially nitazines, in Australia recently. The four deaths in Broadmeadows last week is a major wake-up call for those intent on keeping their heads in the sand on this looming situation.”
Harm Reduction Australia is a drug policy advocacy non-profit that is part of the Keep Our City Alive campaign for a safe injecting room in the CBD. Madden said the Broadmeadows deaths highlighted the need for a second safe injecting room in Victoria.
“We ask, as a community, how many more deaths are we willing to accept?”
The Penington Institute, a public health research non-profit specialising in drug policy, also issued an alert on Monday to its drug harm reduction network across Australia about protonitazenes detected in Melbourne.
Police outside the scene where two men, a woman and a teenage boy were found dead.Credit: Luis Ascui
“This further reinforces the importance of the Victorian government’s decision to introduce an 18-month drug-checking trial,” institute chief executive John Ryan said.
Call the National Alcohol and Other Drug hotline on 1800 250 015 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Anyone with information about the supply of illicit drugs is asked to contact crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report at www.crimestoppers.com.au
Get alerts on significant breaking news as happens. Sign up for our Breaking News Alert.