Health officials are cautioning the public about a new drug that is far more potent and deadly than fentanyl. It’s called Isotonitazene or “ISO” for short and, compared to fentanyl, it is said to be 20 times more powerful.
ISO has already been found in San Francisco’s drug supply. In cases of overdose, patients report needing multiple ‘hits’ of naloxone, commonly known as Narcan. To be effective, Narcan also needs to be delivered sooner.
Fresno County Interim Health Officer Dr. Rais Vohra recently spoke to YourCentralValley.com about ISO. Although the drug has not been detected in Fresno yet, Dr. Vohra is trying to get ahead of what could become a serious problem.
“It’s definitely a challenge. It’s quite concerning. Like I said, I work in poison control, I just alerted my staff… We’re going to learn more about what’s going on in the coming days to weeks,” he said.
Like fentanyl, other street drugs may be ‘cut’ with ISO so that the user is unaware they are ingesting the deadly substance.
In addition to being more resistant to Narcan, Dr. Vohra says ISO is more difficult to detect than fentanyl.
You can read more about ISO at the San Francisco Standard.