The relative scarcity of fentanyl on the illicit drug market, caused by China banning its production in August of 2019, has caused a new deadly drug to emerge Isotonitazene, known as ISO.
What is ISO drug?
ISO is a derivative of etonitazene, a synthetic opioid first developed by pharmaceutical companies in the 1950s to treat pain. It is rarely used in the medical community because there are safer options. ISO is highly potent and comes with dangerous side effects.
How dangerous is ISO drug?
ISO is believed to be more potent than fentanyl. People are at least 10x more likely to overdose on ISO than overdose on methadone, which is also an opioid.
A recent article in U.S. News and World Report stated that ISO is causing 40 to 50 overdose deaths per month in the United States (up from about 6 per month in the summer of 2019). It has been detected in the blood of overdose victims in Indiana, Wisconsin and in our backyard in Illinois where, in some cases, it was mixed with cocaine.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has now reclassified the potent synthetic opioid as a Schedule 1 drug with a high risk of abuse by users.
ISO is even more concerning to health practitioners because it is not easily detected in routine toxicology tests.
Reported side effects of ISO include:
- Respiratory Failure
- Nausea / Vomiting
What does ISO look like?
How do you stop ISO addiction?
Because ISO is an opioid, the same treatments that are effective for heroin or fentanyl addiction are the ideal choice for opioid addiction.
The FDA-approved medications for opioid addiction are Suboxone, methadone and Vivitrol. Symetria offers all these and other medications with promising research. Though, the most common is Suboxone.
(See also the methadone vs. Suboxone article)
Suboxone in Illinois
Get quick access to Suboxone (Buprenorphine) anywhere across Chicago.
- Suboxone Chicago – Downtown Cook County clinic
- Suboxone Des Plaines – Northwest Cook County clinic
- Suboxone Palos Heights – South Cook County clinics
- Suboxone Joliet – Will County clinic
- Suboxone Naperville – DuPage County clinic
- Suboxone Vernon Hills – Lake County clinic
Suboxone in Texas
Get fast access to Suboxone or related addiction or mental health medications in the Houston or Fort Worth areas.
Suboxone Fort Worth Area
- Suboxone Fort Worth – Tarrant county clinic
- Suboxone Hurst – Tarrant County clinic
- Suboxone Lewisville – Denton County clinic
- Suboxone Arlington – Tarrant County Clinic
Suboxone Houston Area
- Suboxone Houston – Jersey Village, Harris County clinic
- Suboxone College Station – Brazos County clinic
- Suboxone Spring – The Woodlands, Montgomery County clinic
"Isotonitazene-related overdose deaths are on the rise both nationally, and even more so locally. Symetria has a large presence in Illinois, which is a state seeing one of the highest rates of ISO-related fatalities. This drug is the latest potent synthetic opioid to be manufactured and is giving rise to the same difficulties as Fentanyl. It is very lethal, being cut into a variety of other drugs unknowingly, not picked up on drug screens and easily obtained on the dark web. These qualities are a recipe for fueling another surge in the opioid epidemic. Treatment professionals on the front lines of this battle need to be aware of the possibility that ISO is now available and being used by their patients."
15 Comments
What does ISO taste like?
They say the taste is bad. Something like yeast and floor cleaner.
Making a product that kills you seems like a rather dumb way to sell something. Wouldn’t they go out of business quick and be left holding the bag?!!
Opiate users look for the stuff that kills people because it’s more potent. Plus, it doesn’t show up on drug screen.
They don’t know what they’re getting when they’re buying it.
Can this new iso drug be tested separately from fetty and heroin? Or does it just come up as an opioid?
Yes. Isotonitazene can be tested separately. It would not come up as an opioid on urine drug screening.
My brother died March 11th of this year after using cocaine that I’m now pretty sure was laced with either ISO or tranq.
I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your brother. This epidemic is taking far too many lives. It’s truly heartbreaking.
Abscesses; my question is: do people get abscesses from the use of iso?
Yes. Iso (Isotonitazene), or any other unregulated non-sterile substances, can cause infections when injected into the body.