Street dealers across the U.S. are adding potent synthetic opioids to drug supplies in what federal officials say could be another deadly chapter in the nation’s opioid epidemic.
Cases across the country highlight the dangers. A 27-year-old Florida dealer who went by the nickname “Draco” sold batches of pills he said contained oxycodone to undercover agents. Some the pills had no drugs in them at all.
Other batches only contained acetaminophen, the non-addictive pain reliever found in Tylenol. Yet other pills contained N-desethyl isotonitazene, an opioid far more deadly than fentanyl. Draco’s real name was Blake Alfonso Kolessa, according to federal court records.