There is a new drug in town, and it is 10,000 more potent then morphine, and it is now making appearances in Canada and the United States. The drug is known as W-18, and it has a backstory. It was developed in a Canadian lab in the 1980’s, by scientists who were developing painkillers. The formulation known as W-18 is about 10,000 times stronger then morphine and about 100 times as potent as fentanyl. It is a synthetic opioid, and it is so strong, that just a tiny speck of it can cause respiratory depression and death.
Because this lab produced opioid was so strong, no pharmaceutical company would produce it and so its formulation was buried deep in the lab in which it was developed. Now, it has made a sudden appearance- through websites in China, and being sold as a street drug. It is being sold as a pill or cutting cocaine and other drugs with in in unknown quantities.
This street drug has doctors concerned for many reasons. There are no tests to detect the drug in a person’s blood or urine, making it hard for doctors to help patients who might have taken the drug and have overdosed. The drug also has never been tested on humans, only on lab mice, so we have no idea what potential harm might come to humans who use it.
The DEA has not made a formal statement regarding how and where W-18 is being sold; however, it is suspected that this drug is being cut with heroin and cocaine in Philadelphia. Last fall Canadian police seized pills with traces of W-18 and a Florida man was arrested after 2.5 pounds of W-18 was found in his home. Health officials worry that this drug could exacerbate the growing heroin epidemic.
There is also concern about the influence Chinese chemists have on the drugs that are entering the United States. 116 synthetic drugs were banned in China last fall, but Chinese drug manufacturers simply began producing alternatives to sell, including the very dangerous W-18. This new street drug is very dangerous, and very deadly-and could be mixed with any street drug sold. It is a scary new chapter to the illegal drug business.