A new drug was found in West Palm Beach after a months-long investigation–and it’s a public health threat, police said.
The drug is called N-Desethyl isotonitazene, or ISO, and it is a lethal mixture of fentanyl and other opioids.
Authorities also announced that an undercover investigation led to the arrest of a man and a seizure of $1.6 million of ammunition and drugs. His name was not immediately provided.
West Palm Beach officials described the deadliness of the synthetic opioid in a news conference on Wednesday.
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"We had some of it tested and it came back 50 times more potent than the normal fentanyl," Lieutenant Joseph Herb, of the West Palm Beach Police Department, said.
The drug has been detected in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., according to Herb and the DEA. No overdose deaths have yet been attributed to ISO, but officials add that toxicology reports could take months to come back.
Like fentanyl, ISO powder is being pressed into oxycontin and percocet pills, police said.
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“You take two of these, you’re dropping,” Herb said. “It’s gonna kill you.”
The investigation into how the drug got to West Palm Beach began in February.
"I don’t want to pound it into the stand, but when we have open borders and fentanyl just crossing freely, we have a problem," Herb said. "Now we see it in Florida, this type of fentanyl. We have a big problem.”
He also said in some cases, the overdose-reversal drug Narcan has not worked on ISO, causing it to be fatal.
"Narcan will work on fentanyl, the problem that we’re seeing now is when you start increasing the dosage on fentanyl and people are dropping because of this, sometimes Narcan is not working," Herb said. "Sometimes first responders are not getting there fast enough to inject the Narcan into the person and we have people dying because of this drug.”
