Skip to content

Powerful synthetic opioids stronger than fentanyl were found in several overdose deaths in Philly

In some of these cases, overdose victims were also found to have taken fentanyl, xylazine, and other drugs.

Alex J. Krotulski, an associate director at the Center for Forensic Science Research Education, holds a sample of nitazene powder. Analogues of the powerful synthetic opioid have been detected in drug samples and in overdose deaths in Philadelphia recently, health officials here say.
Alex J. Krotulski, an associate director at the Center for Forensic Science Research Education, holds a sample of nitazene powder. Analogues of the powerful synthetic opioid have been detected in drug samples and in overdose deaths in Philadelphia recently, health officials here say.Read moreJoe Lamberti / The Washington Post