Criminals on social media are selling fake oxycodone pills that contain a lethal dose of metonitazole, posing as painkillers, and taking just one pill can be fatal, Estonian police warn.
Oxycodone is a powerful prescription pain reliever and methonitazene is a very dangerous synthetic opioid similar to fentanyl.
Wright Picaro, head of the Northern Prefecture’s Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit, said one counterfeit pill could provide a dose for about 28 people.
“This means that the consumption of just one pill can prove fatal. For example, we received a report of a case where an experienced addict took one eighth of a pill bought on the black market and then overdosed,” Picaro said.
At the end of March, when arresting a drug offender, the police also found a similar pill.
“These incidents are the first signs of a dangerous trend that has already spread elsewhere in the world, where criminals distribute synthetic opioids in the form of prescription medicine pills. This form of distribution is particularly dangerous because the pills are difficult to distinguish visually and the risk of overdose is very high. So far there has been no managed to find out the origin of the fake pills or the criminals who distribute them, some of whom are active in social communication groups such as Telegram. We work every day to catch the distributors of dangerous substances,” said Picaro, asking to report suspicious cases to the police.
The responsible institutions of Estonia are increasingly expressing concern about the spread of various narcotic substances in the country and the increasing number of overdose cases.
