ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Department of Health is warning everyone about a new drug strain that’s made its way to Upstate New York.
The drug is called N-Propionitrile Brorphine. It’s a lab-made chemical.
The DOH says the exact potency isn’t known, but the strain resembles another drug that is more potent than fentanyl.
The DOH issued a public alert on July 1. It says its drug checking program identified N-Propionitrile Brorphine on June 25, from a sample collected in April. The drug is a synthetic opioid, meaning it’s made in a lab.
“This is not going away. This will continue to happen because things made in a lab are an easy way to sort of introduce new substances into the drug supply,” said Dr. Chinazo Cunningham, commissioner of the state Office of Addiction Services and Supports.
Cunningham says it’s commonly found in combination with fentanyl, something that is not detectable at home or by most hospitals.
“It’s a bit of a cat and mouse game where then the healthcare system and the law enforcement system is really scrambling to try and get things in place so that we can detect it and can understand it better, but that is not in place right now,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham says naloxone, or Narcan, is still effective in treating someone overdosing with this opioid in their system. She says to use one dose, wait two to three minutes, and grab a second dose if there’s still no response from the person overdosing. The county has a website with a map showing where you can find naloxboxes throughout the region.
For this strain, Dr. Cunningham says there’s no chance of it getting into your prescription drugs. But as for anything bought on the street, she has a warning.
“I think this is also a very important message, making sure that when people have pills that they are not getting them from a friend or the internet, that the only way that you know for sure is when you get it from a pharmacy,” Cunningham said.
The DOH says because the finding is new and still being researched, it does not know how prevalent this substance is across the state.
“It could be a very very potent, new, emerging substance so, it is very concerning,” Cunningham said.
Read the full public health alert from the DOH:
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