Florida warns of drug much deadlier than fentanyl

• Florida officials issued a warning on a new drug known as ISO (Isotonitazene).
• Officials warn that ISO is 20-200 times more potent than fentanyl, meaning it could kill just by coming into contact through touch or inhalation.
• Law enforcement agencies have seen an increase in overdose deaths amid the spring break.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody issued a warning on a new drug hitting the streets across the country: Isotonitazene, more commonly known as ISO.

According to officials, ISO, which is 20-100 times more potent than fentanyl, could be driving the recent increase in overdose deaths amid the spring break.

Moody said that considering just one pill laced with the synthetic opioid fentanyl can be deadly, ISO is much deadlier. She warned, “Isotonitazene … is so strong that it can kill just by coming in contact with someone’s skin or being accidentally inhaled.”

“ISO has already been linked to overdose deaths in Florida, so please, never take any illicit drug and know that using just one time could cost you your life,” she added.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) stated that ISO is believed to be manufactured in China, shipped to Mexico, and then smuggled into the United States. 

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said, “We’re seeing overdose numbers going up. My prediction is that when the medical examiners’ report comes back, we’re going to see that ISO is causing that percentage to go higher for overdose fatalities.”

The sheriff’s office added that ISO doesn’t always respond to Narcan, a medication that reverses the effects of fentanyl and other opioids. They also observed more accidental overdoses, as well as second-hand overdoses in responders.

Nocco said that responders who try to resuscitate someone back can also overdose from the brief contact.

“You’ve taken a poison, and you magnified it 20 to 100 times,” he pointed out. “So you’re, you know, basically going to be destroying people the first time they take it.” 

Back in May 2021, Mark Geary lost his son Jeff after he ingested hydrocodone unknowingly laced with ISO. His death was initially ruled as a fentanyl overdose, but later tests found that ISO contributed to his death.

Geary said that back then, people attributed overdoses to heroin only to find out that it was fentanyl. Now he believes that a lot of deaths attributed to fentanyl were actually caused by ISO.

Geary hopes that his son’s story would save someone else’s life and save another family from heartbreak.

Source: New York Post