An investigation into the deaths of four people at Broadmeadows in Melbourne’s north last month has detected a synthetic opioid in their system. Police have not yet revealed exactly what the substance was. The increasing use of synthetic opioids is concerning researchers, harm reduction experts and police. Some are warning it has the potential to be Australia’s version of the fentanyl crisis gripping North America.
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TVTranscript
00:00Synthetic opioids are opioids like many of the opioids that you've heard about, like
00:06morphine or heroin, but they're made in a lab.
00:09And the thing about these synthetic opioids is that they're very potent.
00:13So we had an alert that was released earlier this week for proteinidazine, which is estimated
00:19to be 100 times more potent than heroin, for example.
00:22Where are they coming from?
00:24So in general, we know that these often come from China, but they can come from other countries.
00:29We know that they're manufactured in labs, and because they're so potent, they can be
00:33shipped fairly easily around the world.
00:36And why would drug operators be cutting this into the product if it is so much more powerful?
00:44Why wouldn't they put in something that's benign?
00:49We don't have concrete information to understand this.
00:51There are a range of theories.
00:53Some people say it's been cut because it's cheap.
00:55It doesn't actually make a lot of business sense to cut your drugs with drugs that have
00:59the opposite effect and are likely to kill people.
01:01So another theory is that it's contamination, because often it's not just one drug that's
01:06made in a site.
01:08Okay, so it's really dangerous for drug users, right?
01:12It's permanently dangerous for drug users, but particularly dangerous now.
01:17Is it possible for drug users in Australia to get drugs analysed before they use them?
01:23So we know that very recently we've had announced in Victoria that we're going to have a drug
01:28tracking service.
01:29A fixed site service where people can go is probably still a year away, but we understand
01:33that there will be mobile sites that will be available in the summer festival season.
01:38We do know in Canberra as well as Brisbane there are already services that have been
01:42stood up.
01:44It would be great to see more of these, because at the moment we know with unregulated illicit
01:48drugs people just don't know what they're using.
01:51And so how many deaths have there been so far from this, as far as you can tell?
01:57Right, so it takes a while for these deaths to be, I guess, closed out so that we can
02:01count them in coroner's data, but we have had the Victorian coroner's announce earlier
02:05this year that they had 16 deaths already, plus these additional four that have been
02:10mentioned today.
02:11So just in Victoria alone that's 20 deaths, and all of those are quite recent in the last
02:16few years.
02:17Yeah, so it's terrible that there have already been those deaths, but are you concerned there
02:21could be a much more significant wave of deaths to come as a result of this?
02:26Absolutely.
02:27If these drugs become commonly available, the harm that we expect is going to be significant,
02:34particularly when we see these drugs contaminating drugs like MDMA and ketamine and cocaine.
02:41These are populations where people aren't used to taking opioids, and these are very,
02:44very strong opioids that have been found in those drugs.
02:48So it's not surprising that we are seeing these very tragic outcomes, and we are concerned
02:53about what's to come.
02:54And so what can be done to minimise the number of deaths?
02:59Well certainly as you've mentioned, drug checking is one strategy so people can know what's
03:03in their drugs before they take them.
03:05Naloxone is an opioid reversal agent.
03:08It's actually available without a prescription for free from the majority of Australian pharmacies
03:13now.
03:14This is something where if people think that they might be in the position where they could
03:17witness an overdose or might be using drugs themselves, to make sure somebody has naloxone,
03:23to have that, know how to use it, it's a very simple nasal spray to use.
03:28And that's a free and easily accessible thing that people can do to keep themselves safe.
03:33And of course calling an ambulance if they're concerned at the same time.
03:37So would you urge even occasional users of ecstasy and ketamine and cocaine to have naloxone
03:45handy in case their drugs are contaminated?
03:49That's the situation we're finding ourselves in now.
03:51With this alert that it was cocaine that was contaminated, you know if you're in Victoria
03:56right now you can't test your cocaine to know what's in there.
03:58So that would be a reasonable safeguard to take, to be having naloxone available, to
04:03know how to use it and to understand the signs of opioid overdose that you would be looking for.