Maxi theft of fentanyl fromIsraelite Hospital in Rome: 80 vials (sufficient for around 20 thousand doses) were taken from the hospital from a safe, opened with the key. The drug, available in hospitals for its anesthetic and pain-relieving properties, is unfortunately also used as a narcotic, sold on the black market. The news, therefore, is very worrying indeed.
What is fentanyl and why its spread is worrisome
As the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) explains, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid with a high analgesic potential, used both in hospitals as an anesthetic for general surgery and in the medical field for the management of cancer and chronic pain. However, its illicit spread globally represents a growing public health concern.
The molecule, synthesized for the first time in the 1960s, is an agonist of the μ opioid receptors, with an affinity and potency approximately 100 times higher than those of morphine: in practice its medical effects, but, unfortunately, also illicit, are 100 times higher than those of morphine, used as a powerful painkiller but from which heroin is also obtained.
This high potency, combined with the low production cost compared to natural opioids such as morphine, has favored its diffusion in the illicit market. The greater pharmacological potency is naturally also associated with significantly higher toxicity, which can lead to respiratory depression, with the risk of cardiorespiratory arrest and death in the event of overdose.
Its very powerful action literally transforms those who consume the substance into motionless and curved figures, staggering, unconscious, completely unaware of their surroundings in broad daylight, as well as at night, appearing to those who observe them as human zombies.
Like other opioids, fentanyl induces tolerance and dependence, resulting in an increased risk of overdose. There is an antidote, naloxone, but its effectiveness may be limited in cases of fentanyl overdose due to the high potency of the latter with a significant increase in death from overdose.
In the United States, fentanyl abuse has reached epidemic levels, pushing the state administration to implement restrictive measures against neighboring countries, Mexico and Canada, but also towards China, in order to stem the illicit trafficking of this substance.
In Italy, the National Prevention Plan against the improper use of fentanyl was presented on 12 March 2024, a government initiative aimed at combating the spread and abuse of this substance.
What happened at the Israelite Hospital in Rome and why it’s scary
Yesterday afternoon, July 3, an alarm went off at the Israelite Hospital in Rome due to the disappearance of 80 vials of fentanyl, enough to satisfy around 20 thousand doses. What happened is frightening: 20 thousand doses is an enormous quantity, and is therefore an indication of the spread of sales of the drug on the black market, and therefore its diffusion as a narcotic.
The Rome Prosecutor’s Office has started an investigation into theft and possession for the purpose of dealing drugs, entrusted to the Nas carabinieri. And the Ministry of Health has also activated its inspectors and in a new circular aims to further strengthen controls.
