ALBANY — A powerful and potentially deadly new group of synthetic opioids known as nitazenes are infiltrating New York’s drug supply, even as the state still struggles with a fentanyl-fueled addiction crisis.
During a narcotics raid in Long Island last month, investigators seized a host of illicit pills, including fentanyl and a new form of nitazenes. Law enforcement officials said the discovery marked one of the first instances of the dangerous nitazenes being found in the Northeast.
Nitazenes were created as pain reliever medication in the 1950s, though they have never been approved for use by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Yet as the global drug supply has shifted rapidly, officials have noticed several nitazene compounds cropping up among other illicit substances that are circulating in New York…