Deadly synthetic opioids find new market, discovered in NT for first time

Deadly synthetic opioids linked to deaths across the country have been found by health workers in one major city for the first time.

Deadly drugs that have killed young people across the country have been found by Northern Territory health workers for the first time.

The discovery has prompted health authorities to issue warnings three weeks out from Darwin’s biggest music festival.

Nitazenes are a category of synthetic opioid which can be 500 times as potent as heroin. They have been linked to 17 deaths across Australia since the substance began popping up in 2021. Nitazenes have now been found in the NT for the first time, in the form of tablets, the NT Health announced on Thursday.

“Drugs seized in the NT have been found to contain nitazenes. This is the first detection of this substance in the NT,” the warning says.

Not-for-profit organisation of chemists, health workers and researchers, The Loop Australia, has found nitazenes pressed into party drugs. Picture: Supplied

Nitazenes seized by the Australia Federal Police have come in various forms. Picture: AFP

While NT Health says they have only just come across nitazenes recently, the synthetic opioids have been troubling police for longer.

Drugs and organised crime Detective Superintendent, Lee Morgan, told NewsWire: “We are seeing an increasing presence of nitazenes in illicit substances - these synthetic opioids are extremely potent and pose a serious risk of overdose and death”.

The most recent arrest related to nitazenes was of a 21-year-old man, who was arrested in the Darwin suburb of Rapid Creek in February. Police allegedly found 3.5kg of MDMA, 16kg of cannabis, 2g of ketamine and 500g of pills containing nitazenes. He is expected in court again next month.

“Police will continue to target the possession, supply and use of all illicit substances across the Northern Territory,” Detective Morgan said.

“These drugs are manufactured in unregulated and unhygienic conditions, and anyone choosing to use them is gambling with their life.”

Nitazenes have been found in what Australians thought was MDMA, ketamine, heroin, cocaine, GHB and counterfeit medications bought online such as fake oxycodone.

As well as pills and powders, the substances have been detected in nasal sprays and vape liquids. They can be sold as a white powder, in crystal form, or as a brown/yellow powder.

The warning comes weeks out from Darwin’s biggest music festival, Bassinthegrass, which attracted 16,000 people last year.

While health authorities say this is the first time nitazenes have been “detected” in the territory, a man was arrested in 2023 for allegedly importing metonitazene.

The federal police have seized nitazenes at various borders 64 times from January 2023 to September 2024, the latest data shows. These mostly came by mail from the UK, Canada and Hong Kong.

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has Australian doctors concerned about a rise in synthetic opioid production. Picture: Wakil Koshar / AFP

Research published in the Medical Journal of Australia in February states nitazenes are now “an established feature of the Australian illicit drug market”.

Melbourne carpentry apprentice, 18-year-old Jetson Gordon, died of an overdose in 2022, having bought what he thought was oxycodone online.

The pills looked like oxycodone, but the type of nitazene which killed Mr Gordon was 43 times stronger than fentanyl and 883 times stronger than morphine.

Health authorities across the country have been forced to issue 17 alerts up to the end of 2024, warning the public about different types of nitazenes, being sold in various forms. The substances have been linked to 17 deaths, research published in August by the Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs found.

The NT Health warning comes just a few weeks before Darwin’s biggest music festival, Bassinthegrass. Picture: Supplied

This latest Medical Journal of Australia research points to the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan as a potential driver of increased synthetic opioid production.

“There is concern that synthetic opioid production may increase due to recent political changes in Afghanistan, a key producer of heroin, which have resulted in a marked decrease in global opium supply,” the researchers said.

“While the full effects of this disruption to the illicit drug market are not immediately apparent, it is important to consider preparedness in Australia for changes in drug use, including increases in intended or unintentional exposure to synthetic opioids such as nitazenes.”

The doctors recommend expanding the distribution of opioid-reversing naloxone, specifically to music festivals, as more supposed non-opioid drugs continue to be unmasked as containing nitazenes. The NT has no pill testing regimes at music festivals.

Nitazenes were originally developed as an alternative to morphine in the 1950s but never were approved because of their high potency.

Originally published as Deadly synthetic opioids find new market, discovered in NT for first time