{"id":38109,"date":"2025-09-23T06:03:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T06:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/38109\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T06:03:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T06:03:04","slug":"rare-nitazene-discovered-at-canberra-pill-testing-site-believed-to-be-an-australian-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/38109\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare nitazene discovered at Canberra pill-testing site believed to be an Australian first"},"content":{"rendered":"

The operator of Canberra’s drug-checking service says a potentially deadly illicit substance detected over the weekend is so novel that its effects are not known.<\/p>\n

Operators at CanTEST believe it is the first time the nitazene called isotocyanozene has been detected at a drug-checking service anywhere in Australia.<\/p>\n

A class of synthetic opioids, nitazenes can do significant damage in very small amounts.<\/p>\n

“It’s the first time [isotocyanozene] has been found in a drug checking service in Australia \u2026 potentially the world,” Directions Health Services chief executive Bronwyn Hendry said.<\/p>\n

“They’re very difficult to detect as well.”<\/p>\n

The capsuled white powder was presented to the pill-testing site on Friday and, when chemists couldn’t make an identification, was transferred to the Australian National University (ANU) for analysis.<\/p>\n

ANU Research School of Chemistry professor Malcolm McLeod said they tested the drug because their equipment was more capable than CanTEST’s.<\/p>\n

“We have more sophisticated equipment, so more sophisticated mass spectrometers and NMR spectrometers and things like that, that are really, really good at determining compound structure,” he said.<\/p>\n

“In this case, our understanding is that [the isotocyanozene] was sourced locally in Canberra, but my expectation is that it’s been introduced to Australia from overseas.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

ANU Professor Malcolm McLeod is also the clinical lead for CanTEST and Pill Testing Australia.
\n\u00a0 (Supplied: ANU\/Nic Vevers)<\/p>\n

Ms Hendry said CanTEST suspected the drug was not just being sold on the streets.<\/p>\n

“Generally, these things often are purchased over the dark web,” she said.<\/p>\n

“[They’re] easy to manufacture and easy to get through borders.”<\/p>\n

‘Likely to be extremely potent’\"Acting<\/p>\n

Directions Health Services chief executive Bronwyn Hendry says people should not take the newly discovered pill. (ABC News: Donal Sheil)<\/p>\n

Nitazenes emerged as an “illicit drug of concern” in 2019 due to “their high potency, with potential for severe and potentially fatal respiratory depression, has prompted public health alerts internationally”.<\/p>\n

However, the exact potency and effects of isotocyanozene are unknown \u2014 though animal studies have shown its parent drug, isotonitazene, is 250 times more potent than heroin.<\/p>\n

Ms Hendry said the parent drug isotonitazene “has been implicated in a significant number of overdose deaths but [isotocyanozene] is an analogue, so it’s slightly different and we actually don’t know what the effects of it are”.<\/p>\n

“We can make some assumptions about the fact that [it] is related to a known nitazine,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s likely to be extremely potent and carry a very high risk of overdose.<\/p>\n

“We would absolutely advise anyone who came in, who received a result like that, not to take it.”<\/p>\n

It’s believed the first known detection of isotocyanozene anywhere was earlier this year, in Scotland.<\/p>\n

According to Scotland’s Surveillance Study of Illicit Substance Toxicity, an individual presented to the emergency department at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital with decreased consciousness and pinpoint pupils and required breathing support.<\/p>\n

“It hasn’t been seen by the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, for example,” Professor McLeod added.<\/p>\n

A mother’s fight to stop the faceless killer of her son<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos and a box of ashes are all Sue La Velle has after her son was found dead in a Melbourne home in June.<\/p>\n

Nitazene discoveries ’cause for great concern’<\/p>\n

CanTEST’s isotocyanozene detection is not their only discovery this week.<\/p>\n

The facility also discovered a combination of two nitazenes in a single capsule \u2014 something they say has not been detected at the service before.<\/p>\n

The capsule contained two highly potent opioids \u2014 metonitazene and protonitazene.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CanTEST has issued public warnings for five nitazene detections so far this year.<\/p>\n

“This goes across many jurisdictions, but mostly we’ve seen [nitazenes] arriving in the form of pills \u2014 fake oxycodone pills, for example \u2014 that contain nitazenes instead of oxycodone, which is \u2026 a common opioid medication,” Professor McLeod said.<\/p>\n

“So, that seems to be the main place that they’re cropping up; less so in the traditional opioid market, like the heroin markets.<\/p>\n

“The emergence of these substances in general is cause for great concern and we need to be on top of it.”\"Drug<\/p>\n

The CanTEST facility is a rare thing in Australia and has issued multiple red alerts since its inception in 2019. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

Unlike the drug fentanyl, which has caused major harm in countries like the US but has not reached the same level of prominence in Australia, nitazenes “have been appearing in the Australian drug market for a few years now, sporadically”.<\/p>\n

“Obviously there is a concern that that level of infiltration could increase significantly,” Professor McLeod said.<\/p>\n

He warned of broader risks associated with nitazenes entering the country, given they were circulating in the community as fake prescription medication.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s an indication of how rapidly the drug market is evolving, particularly with novel, synthetic drugs,” Ms Hendry said.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, nitazenes can come in any form, unlike many other drugs \u2014 so, capsules, powders, pills, liquid capsules.<\/p>\n

“We are very concerned and there’s so many of them [and] they range in potency, from hundreds to thousands of times the strength of morphine.<\/p>\n

“So, you can imagine how high risk they are. We just need to detect them and continually warn the community\u2026about how to try and reduce their risk.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because information about the novel nitazene isotocyanozene is extremely limited, CanTEST said there are no safe-use strategies for it.<\/p>\n

Ms Hendry suggested anyone consuming any illicit substances, not just opioids, keep Naloxone on hand.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Naloxone is recommended for anyone using drugs, as it can reverse an overdose. (ABC News: Keana Naughton)<\/p>\n

“It’s just a very simple nasal spray; it can’t cause any harm, even if the person isn’t experiencing an overdose,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But if you suspect somebody might be, then you need to just give them the nasal spray [and] call the ambulance. Even if they revive and seem okay [because] Naloxone can wear off \u2026 and people can go back into overdose.<\/p>\n

“And definitely don’t use alone.”<\/p>\n

Plans to share data around the world<\/p>\n

Professor McLeod said his team had “plans to look at the activity of the substance” in collaboration with other laboratories, as has been their practice with past novel discoveries.<\/p>\n

“Of course, we will \u2026 rapidly share our data so that others around the world can monitor for the presence of this substance in their local drug markets,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Drug<\/p>\n

The CanTEST facility is one of just two permanent drug checking services in Australia. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

He suggested the latest detections demonstrate the benefits of drug checking services.<\/p>\n

“We’ve had multiple first detections,” he said of CanTEST, which was established in 2019.<\/p>\n

“I think it just goes to show the quality of what’s going on here in the ACT.<\/p>\n

“We’re able to really quickly pick up the presence of these incredibly \u2026 potentially harmful substances when they appear in the Australian drug market and alert the community, and that’s obviously the first step in keeping people safer.”<\/p>\n

These dual detections come just days after the Queensland government introduced legislation to ban drug checking statewide, despite a University of Queensland independent report into the practice finding the services provided “valuable harm reduction”.<\/p>\n

Bitter pill handed to Queensland’s stalled drug checking services<\/a><\/p>\n

The Queensland government has been unrepentant in its tough stance on drugs, with Health Minister Tim Nicholls telling state parliament this week it doesn’t “support drug dealers”.<\/p>\n

Not-for-profit organisation The Loop Australia operated two CheQpoint sites until April 2025, when public funding wasn’t renewed.<\/p>\n

Data shows CheQpoint analysed 1,200 drug samples in the 12 months to April, with unexpected contents identified in about 10 per cent of samples.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Of six counterfeit tablets expected to be the pharmaceutical opioid oxycodone, three of them instead contained nitazenes,” The Loop Australia found.<\/p>\n

“Four people died following a mass nitazene overdose in Melbourne last year.”<\/p>\n

Opposition Leader Steven Miles has since called for a parliamentary inquiry into drug checking services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The operator of Canberra’s drug-checking service says a potentially deadly illicit substance detected over the weekend is so…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[4619,34931,4618,34929,34930,134,34932,4620,524,111,139,34928,69,19952,11408],"class_list":{"0":"post-38109","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-act","9":"tag-by-canberras-drug-checking-facility","10":"tag-canberra","11":"tag-cantest","12":"tag-drug-testing","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-isotocyanozene","15":"tag-local-stories","16":"tag-medication","17":"tag-new-zealand","18":"tag-newzealand","19":"tag-nitazenes","20":"tag-nz","21":"tag-pill","22":"tag-testing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}