New synthetic drug three times stronger than fentanyl linked to LA County death

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A new synthetic drug considered three times more powerful than fentanyl is being blamed for at least one death in Los Angeles.

Protonitazene is so potent, the Food and Drug Administration never approved it.

"This drug is illegal in the United States, has no medically accepted uses," said Bill Bodner, a retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent.

The drug is finding its way onto the community.

A case last month in Los Angeles federal court charged one man for distributing the drug.

"This is the first confirmed protonitazene death-resulting case in the nation. Protonitazine is quickly emerging as a fentanyl replacement and it is three times more fatal," court documents stated.

In that case, Benjamin Anthony Collins, 21, of Santa Clarita, allegedly sold the victim pills containing protonitazene and arranged to sell him a bulk supply, the U.S. attorney's office said in a news release.

Prosecutors say the 22-year-old victim, a Stevenson Ranch resident, took the pills in the front seat of his car and died.

"The prospect of nitozines being out in the community drug supply is certainly worrisome because that increases the risk of overdose, when you have a very potent chemical that small amounts can be the difference between being comfortably high and not breathing anymore," said Dr. Brian Hurley with the L.A. County Department of Public Health.

Experts say it is being shipped in from overseas, usually China. Dealers then press fake prescription drugs and put them out on the street as if they're legitimate. Bodner says stopping these shipments coming through customs is almost impossible.

"This drug is so powerful it takes so little of it, that the packages coming in are so small," Bodner said. "It does not take much to mass produce fake pills, so you can order a relatively small package, have it get through customs, not be searched (and it) arrives in your community."

Officials say they haven't seen a lot of it yet. The advice in case of an overdose is to use Narcan.

"With these high potency opioids like nidazines we are sometimes seeing instances where people need higher doses of naloxone or Narcan than usual in order to reverse an opiate overdose," Hurley said.