“I don’t want to be waiting as the body bags pile up:” Attorney General sounds alarm over new, deadly synthetic opioid

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - According to the CDC, about 150 Americans die every day from DRUG overdoses…and that number has been rising.

75 percent of those deaths are because of synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

Now, there’s a new drug in town that could exacerbate this decades-long epidemic.

It’s called Nitazene - and like fentanyl, the CDC says these synthetic drugs are often mixed with other opioids to make them cheaper, more potent, and more addictive.

It also makes them highly lethal.

Last year alone, 108 thousand Americans died of overdose.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration - most of these victims don’t know they’re in for a death sentence when buying these drugs.

One of the hardest areas is West Virginia.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey came to Washington to plead with the DEA to take action before Nitazene takes any more lives.

“West Virginia has been so hard hit by opioids and fentanyl in the past,” said Morrisey. “You want to get out in front of it if you can. And that way we can educate our law enforcement in West Virginia as to what to look for. So that’s what worries me about it. I don’t want to be waiting at the back end as the body bags pile up”

Morrisey is urging the DEA to take swift action - going so far as asking them to label these drugs as weapons of mass destruction.

The DEA issued a warning back in June about Nitazene after it began popping up on the streets of Washington D.C., and surrounding states.

The DEA says Nitazene can appear in powder form, and is often a yellow, brown or off-white color - and can be sold as pills falsely marketed as oxycodone.