2023-09-11 09:24:02
The Regional Health Agency warns of the presence of a drug of “still unidentified” origin having caused deaths in Reunion.
This is the first time that such a violent substance has been reported in Reunion. A “still unidentified” product is the cause of the overdose deaths of three people and the hospitalization in intensive care of six other patients, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Reunion informed Monday morning.
Since the end of June 2023, a total of 13 poisonings have been recorded in people aged 21 to 46 years, said the ARS in a press release published early this morning.
“Autopsies on the deceased have been carried out,” health authorities announced during a press conference held later in the morning.
Samples were sent to France in order to identify the substance. But “according to initial investigations, these are synthetic opiates 500 times more powerful than heroin,” said the ARS.
“Major overdose risk”
Presenting “a major risk of overdose, a few seconds or minutes following taking”, these synthetic products can be “smoked, vaporized, injected, ingested, inhaled, snorted without the consumer’s knowledge or not”, warns the ARS in his press release.
“Among the symptoms experienced, some of the patients specify that the intoxication began following two puffs of smoked tobacco: a sudden asphyxia sets in because these substances have a direct effect on the cerebral respiratory centers then the person is unable to breathe”.
Few indications have been given by health authorities on the circumstances of the overdoses. The only indication is that “the three people died at their home,” informed the ARS.
The conditions under which these products were introduced to the island are still under investigation.
“These might be products ordered (outside Reunion – editor’s note) by mistake without the sponsor being aware of their dangerousness,” commented Doctor David Mété, head of the addictology department at the Saint -Denis. This is the first time that such a violent substance has been reported in Reunion.
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