C/O Futures Narcotics Research Note Series
Pamela Ligouri Bunker and Robert J. Bunker
26 November 2024
A Stevenson Ranch resident, aged 22, died of an overdose of protonitazene on 19 April 2024 when he ingested counterfeit pink K-56 pills (i.e. oxycodone). He was sold the pills by Benjamin Anthony Collins (aka “BenzThaKidd”), homeless man aged 21, in what has become the first death in the U.S. resulting in a criminal indictment related to protonitazene. This novel synthetic opioid is three times more powerful than fentanyl, almost unknown on America’s streets, and is being sourced from China. It is being cut (mixed) with other narcotics to make them more potent and cheaper to produce. It exists in the nitazene family of drugs developed in the 1950s as a replacement for morphine but these were not approved for use due to their dangerous effects which can include almost immediate death. This drug family, known as ‘Frankenstein opioids,’ also includes isotonitazene which is more common and has been appearing on America’s streets since 2019.
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