Harm Reduction Victoria has warned of a health crisis urging the public to avoid faux cocaine that has been responsible for serious outcomes among several Australians. Among other things, these effects include unconsciousness, respiratory depression, and life-threatening hypoxia.
A report from news.com.au stated that this year Australia has seen various versions of fentanyl like nitazenes circulating at low levels though.
“It’s not just Nigeria. It occurs in some Australian cocaine supplies recently which is very distressing,” said Nick Kent – Policy & Advocacy Manager at Harm Reduction Victoria.
This is the latest incident in an ongoing series of opioid overdoses where people have unintentionally taken them. Preliminary toxicology reports have shown synthetic opioids were present when four people were found dead on 25 June in a Melbourne house in Broadmeadows.
Support workers noted about 20 drug overdoses over Easter weekend late last March in Western Sydney with the victims being described as “long term heroin users” who believed their drugs were laced with fentanyl. “They would tell me it was very sudden; they would tell me people went down really quickly; they had to give multiple doses of naloxone to bring somebody back … up to five,” a peer worker from Penrith told the Parami News.
Because of this cluster, western Sydney authorities put out an urgent alert to those using illegal substances advising them to carry naloxone which can reverse an opioid overdose instantly. Last month also saw social media flooded with warnings about ketamine suspected of containing fentanyl sold in inner-city Sydney. “It’s everywhere lately I swear,” wrote one group on Instagram. “Be careful out there.”
“We are finding that drug users are having experiences that they didn’t expect”, NSW Ambulance senior assistant commissioner Clare Beech said during an interview with Parami News.
North America has experienced mass overdosing and deaths due to deliberate abuse of drugs like oxycodone and fentanyl as well as an increase in cases where illicit substances such as cocaine and ketamine have been mixed with opioids.
In 2020, the National Centre for Health Statistics reported over 107,000 fatal overdoses in the US; of these, almost 75,000 were because of synthetic opioids.
The presence of cutting drugs has been noted by various Canadian and American agencies like Nick Kent’s. This is a concern across many drug markets and poses risk to diverse segments of society.
Drugs seized from Australia’s borders can reveal a great deal about the nation’s narcotics market. Shane Neilson from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) believes that Australia is spared from opioid crisis comparable to North America due to some advantages. The country health has learned from the experiences of the United States and maintains vigilance to prevent the involvement of organized crime in the drug supply market.
This is not true for other countries where prevention efforts have had different outcomes, according to him. By partnering with universities, ACIC operates a wastewater drug monitoring program that offers insights into patterns of drug use.
The implementation of harm reduction and prevention measures in 2018 has coincided with significant decreases in fentanyl use, according to Amber Meagher, the director of drug data collection at ACIC.
However, major cities had less fentanyl consumption than regional areas. Although harm reduction and prevention have been successful, Kent highlights that this success must not make us blind. He recommends increasing harm reduction services and having tough conversations to prevent another North America-like situation.
Some states have adopted drug-checking services so as to ensure their users consume what is intended. In order to address the issue properly and avoid a looming crisis, Australia needs to be prepared for such discussions according to Kent.
