Fake painkiller discovered in Brisbane more dangerous than heroin
Queensland Health has issued an urgent warning after a potent and potentially lethal synthetic drug was detected in Brisbane, only days after the LNP government announced it would strip funding from the state’s permanent pill-testing sites.
The operator of the Bowen Hills pill-testing site, CheQpoint, confirmed the synthetic opioid nitazene was discovered in counterfeit oxycodone.
Nitazene, a type of synthetic opioid, was presented to Brisbane’s permanent pill testing site this week, prompting a health alert.Credit: CheQpoint
Nitazenes vary in strength, but some are stronger than fentanyl (an opioid medicine prescribed for severe pain) and up to 500 times more potent than heroin. A small amount can result in overdose.
The drug presented to staff at CheQpoint was a light blue tablet marked “M30”. It had been sold as oxycodone, normally a prescription-only medicine, and purchased online.
On Sunday, Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls questioned the cost and effectiveness of pill testing after reports that only 27 tests had been conducted during the first week of a drug checking trial at this year’s schoolies event on the Gold Coast.
“[The program is] supposed to be about harm reduction – 27 pills out of, what, 40,000 kids turning up at schoolies? The numbers don’t tell you that it’s actually being taken up,” he said.
The health minister added that about 1000 people had visited the testing site for advice, “and we’re grateful for that to occur”.
The permanent pill testing site at Bowen Hills had told a different story.
Cameron Francis, the head of drug-checking advocacy group Loop Australia, said a high percentage of people accessing the service were testing counterfeit pharmaceuticals, often purchased online.
“Drug checking has been framed as a festival-based thing, to test for recreational drugs. But what we’re seeing in fixed locations is a huge diversity of people, including people who are purchasing prescription medications online because they can’t afford them here,” Francis said.
“They’re buying cheaper medications from overseas and then bringing them in for testing because they’re worried about counterfeits.”
Francis said counterfeit benzodiazepines such as Xanax, a drug prescribed to treat anxiety and promote relaxation, had been frequently presented for testing since the site opened in April.
“We see a lot of people with mental health problems who can’t get access to [or afford] mental health treatment in the public system, so they start self-medicating.
“There’s also people experiencing chronic pain who can’t get their pain managed properly, so they end up sourcing medications on the internet.
“It’s a much more diverse range of clients that we see than people might realise.”
The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s latest Illicit Drug Data Report showed most (64 per cent) pharmaceutical detections at the Australian border in 2020-21 were benzodiazepines.
However, the number of opioid detections increased 1215 per cent, from 39 in 2011-12 to a record 513 in 2020-21.
Signs of nitazene overdose are similar to heroin and include feeling excessive drowsiness/slumping over (“on the nod”); pinpoint pupils; being cold and clammy; and blue tinge to the lips or nails.
CheQpoint advises anyone noticing signs and symptoms to call 000 and administer naxolene, a drug that can reverse or reduce the effects of opioids and is made available for free at CheQpoint and participating pharmacies.
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