{"id":73061,"date":"2026-03-31T09:44:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/uncovering-the-worlds-newest-and-deadliest-drugs\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:44:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:44:41","slug":"uncovering-the-worlds-newest-and-deadliest-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/uncovering-the-worlds-newest-and-deadliest-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncovering the World\u2019s Newest and Deadliest Drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"css-8hvvyd\">I\u2019ve been investigating a transformation in the illegal drug market and how it has led to this explosion of drug overdoses. \u201cAmerica\u2019s public enemy No. 1 is drug abuse.\u201d The war on drugs starts in the early \u201970s. At that time, annually, there were roughly 7,000 drug overdose deaths. Subsequently, that number completely explodes. How could we have invested so much to stop the problem and just have it get so much worse? So when we start looking at this data, I find that it\u2019s fundamentally a synthetic drug problem. Fentanyl is the first example, but it\u2019s essentially a subset of what we know as novel psychoactive substances. They are often lethal. \u201cSo this sample was a 19-year-old in Chicago who was found deceased after taking what he thought was Percocet. But we found one of these synthetic cannabinoids that is several times more potent than fentanyl.\u201d When you get that sample, you\u2019re trying to tease out a molecule that maybe hasn\u2019t been seen before? \u201cYes, we create what is essentially a digital record, a chemical fingerprint, if you will. But then there\u2019s the interpretation. We need to understand the pharmacology of it, the potency of it, to understand how these substances can affect humans.\u201d This is an information-era story. It\u2019s everything from chat groups where people are sharing different ideas, to exchanges between users and suppliers, and then the chemistry know-how is also being shared. One way to appreciate the magnitude of the problem is to see how easy it is to change these molecules. \u201cSo this is MDMA and these are all being manufactured to really elicit similar responses. Methylone, ethylone, butylone, dimethylone, we\u2019ve seen all of those. The left side of the molecule in all of these is the same. It\u2019s really the right side of the molecule that\u2019s different.\u201d Why can\u2019t we just outlaw all drugs of a certain class or type, wouldn\u2019t that simply solve the problem? \u201cThe challenge is there\u2019s been so many examples and stories of that leading to even more potent drugs. You kind go through this roller coaster of one substance emerging because another has been scheduled, and then you have that going away, a new substance emerging, new substance emerging over time. So do you like the thing that\u2019s dangerous to the power of five, or do you want the thing that\u2019s dangerous to the power of 100?\u201d Understanding the science and the chemistry is vital to at least knowing what we\u2019re dealing with in this supply. And that way, ideally, we could frame public policy that would get at the problem and not make it worse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/video\/science\/100000010234095\/synthetic-drugs-overdoses-fentanyl.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve been investigating a transformation in the illegal drug market and how it has led to this explosion of drug<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[1730,8847,8477,8743,1372,8848,8846],"class_list":["post-73061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-chemistry","tag-dea","tag-drug-abuse","tag-fatalitiescasualties","tag-fentanyl","tag-matt-richtel","tag-pharmaceuticalsprescription-drugs"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Uncovering the World\u2019s Newest and Deadliest Drugs - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/uncovering-the-worlds-newest-and-deadliest-drugs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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