KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – An opioid called nitazenes has been spreading in Tennessee for the last couple of years. Health experts say it is 20 times more potent than fentanyl and hundreds to thousands times more potent than morphine.
Metro Drug Coalition has seen the drug pop up more often, especially when it’s mixed with fentanyl.
“When we come across nitazenes or people who are using nitazenes, it’s mixed in with fentanyl. So an individual that experiences an overdose, if nitazene is present, it is an opioid so naloxone will work, it may just take extra doses,” MDC Regional Overdose Prevention Specialist Brandon Styles said…