The BBC reported the following:
Super-strength opioids spreading across Europe and North America – UN
26 June 2024
The use of nitazenes, a group of drugs which can be more potent than fentanyl, is spreading across Europe and North America, the UN drug agency has warned.
The synthetic opioids have been detected in the UK, US, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Belgium and Canada, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) wrote in its latest World Drug Report.
There has also been an increase in the number of deadly overdoses connected with nitazenes.
The super-strength drugs, of which there are several types, are significantly more potent than heroin. Their emergence has prompted urgent warnings from health agencies around the world.
It follows a ban on poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, which saw opium production drop by 95% in 2022.
It is too early to know what long-term effects this may have on factors such as heroin purity, the UNODC report says, but it will likely lead to heroin users switching to other opioids, which may “lead to an increase in overdoses”. …
Fentanyl, another synthetic opioid, is 50 times more powerful than heroin. Its highly-publicised epidemic in the US contributed to 100,000 deaths in 2022, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The UNODC’s report states that “illicitly manufactured fentanyls” are still behind “unprecedented number of overdose deaths,” the numbers “may be tapering off.”
Global drug use increased by 20% in the past decade to 292 million users in 2022, the report said.
Cannabis remains the most widely used with 228 million users worldwide. It is followed by:
Opioids – 60 millionAmphetamines – 30 millionCocaine – 23 millionEcstasy – 20 million
National Institute on Drug Abuse website states:
Nitazenes are a class of lab-made (synthetic) opioids that may be as powerful or more powerful than fentanyl.4 They were developed in research labs in the 1950s as potential pain relievers but never marketed. Nitazenes are most often sold as a white powder or tablets. People may not be aware that they have taken nitazenes, as they may be added to other substances, including fentanyl, heroin, and benzodiazepines.5
Nitazenes began to re-emerge in the drug supply in 2019, after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration banned fentanyl-related substances.6,7 Researchers and authorities are monitoring nitazenes, including isotonitazene, protonitazene, etonitazene, N-piperidinyl etonitazene, and metonitazene. Many nitazenes are listed as Schedule 1 drugs under the Controlled Substances Act.
Like all opioids, nitazenes can slow breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate to dangerously low levels, potentially contributing to overdose. https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/emerging-drug-trends#nitazenes
Back in 1976, the old Worldwide Church of God published the following:
Psychoactive Drugs
Technically speaking, a drug is any substance (other than food) that by its chemical nature affects the structure or function of a living organism.
Doctors usually refer to a drug in terms of its ability to treat physical and mental diseases. They stress the therapeutic value. But many laymen now focus on the negative connotations of the word. For them, “drug” has become a four-letter word of the worst kind, an epithet, an obscenity. When used in conversation it provokes strong emotional reactions. It’s a good word to start an argument with, or even a fight.
Medicine and Menace
You encounter a lot of this when discussing drugs. They can relieve pain, prevent infection and save lives. That’s good! But they can also destroy bodily tissue, impair healthy bodily metabolism, enslave by addiction and ultimately kill. That’s bad!
The drug problem would be greatly simplified if drugs were not ambivalent, if they were very selective in their effects. If only drug X eased pain, but was not addicting, if only drug Y helped people relax but didn’t adversely affect the brain or the liver.
But drugs don’t work that way. Rather, their effects are varied and often ambivalent — they have the potential to simultaneously hurt or harm, depending on a number of variables. Because any drug can play both the role of medicine or health menace, any description of its effects is bound to sound like a “that’s-good, that’s-bad” routine.
Morphine presents a good example of a “that’s-good, that’s — bad” story. It came into widespread use as a pain-killer during the American Civil War (1861-65). So effective was it as an analgesic for wounds and amputations that physicians sometimes referred to it as “G.O.M.” — “God’s own medicine.”
That’s good!
But in time morphine was found to be addicting — prolonged use followed by abstinence led to agonizing withdrawal symptoms. “God’s own medicine” turned out to be “the Devil’s own misery.” Hundreds, if not thousands (accurate statistics are hard to come by), of war veterans inadvertently became drug addicts.
That’s bad!
But that’s the nature of opiates. And it illustrates a fundamental principle of pharmacology: any drug can be dangerous depending on the dosage, the duration of use, its purity and many other factors. No drug is completely “safe.”
Recognizing this, the Federal government under the Controlled Substances Act regulates drugs according to their potential for abuse. The drugs are listed in five schedules in descending order of proven abuse potential and current medical usage.
Schedule I lists drugs deemed to have great abuse potential and no legitimate medical use. The score or so drugs on this list include heroin, LSD, mescaline, psilocybin and marijuana.
Schedule II lists drugs with great abuse potential that have legitimate medical uses. Drugs in this list can come under production quotas, and telephone and refillable prescriptions are prohibited. The psychoactive drugs listed here include the opiates such as morphine and synthetic opiates such as methadone and Demeral, certain barbiturates of the short-acting type, methaqualone and amphetamines. Altogether over 1300 drug preparations are listed!
Schedules III, IV and V list drugs with correspondingly less proven abuse potential. The widely used tranquilizers Librium and Valium are in Schedule IV — a classification the manufacturers have protested. Altogether over 3600 drug preparations are covered by these three schedules.
The list is not static. On the basis of new evidence and accumulated experience, drugs are often being added to the list. And drugs already listed are sometimes moved to higher schedules, indicating greater proven abuse potential.
The dual nature of drugs guarantees that the debate over their benefits versus hazards will continue for some time. (Graunke DP. The Dilemma of Drugs. Worldwide Church of God, 1976)
Since that came out in 1976, the opioid and drug crisis has worsened.
The reality is that many have physical and spiritual pain and they reach out to drugs for relief. This tends to be addictive.
The Continuing Church of God (CCOG) put out the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:
13:19
Opioid Crisis
Since 1997, over 700,000 Americans have died related to opioids. What are opioids? What does the National Institute on Drug Abuse teach about them? Why do people use them? Are they effective? Can they be addictive when medically-prescribed? Does the UK have a problem with opioids? Did Great Britain force China to accept opioids in the 19th century? Has pharmaceutical greed been a factor in the opioid crisis? What is the dilemma of drugs? Is switching to non-opioid substances like marijuana the answer? Does the Bible provide insights related to mind altering substances? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more. A written article of related interest is available titled “Opioid Crisis Leaves 700,000 Americans Dead.”
Here is a link to the sermonette video: Opioid Crisis.
While the USA is fighting the opioid epidemic, it has also been in the process of increasing its marijuana epidemic, which more and more US states are encouraging.
The Bible teaches:
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18)
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty (Proverbs 23:21)
Notice something the Apostle Paul was inspired to write:
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
Getting stoned with marijuana or opioids is harmful to the body and is not glorifying God.
Mind altering drugs are not the answer.
Truly repenting and turning to the true Jesus and the coming Kingdom of God are.
As far as physical pain goes, let me close by saying that frequently, the cause is something in someone’s diet. Now, while not all are bothered by substances such as caffeine and bovine dairy, some are, and that is something that the medical field rarely diagnoses. There is no money for the pharmaceutical companies when the cause of discomfort is avoiding some substance.
Anyway, the drug situation in the USA is weakening the nation, and it shows no signs of truly changing that for the better.
Pray for God’s kingdom to come.
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Marijuana: Should a Christian Get High? There is increasing acceptance of the use of marijuana. How should Christians view this? Here is a related video titled How Should a Christian View Marijuana?
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