State bans deadly drug

SANDUSKY — Ohio has banned a deadly synthetic opioid that has become a new drug of abuse. The Ohio Board of Pharmacy, acting on a request from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, added isotonitazene to the list of Ohio's Schedule 1 drugs, drugs that are illegal and have no medical uses. The board's action gives isotonitazene the same legal status as heroin and LSD and sends a signal to law enforcement on how to treat sale and possession of the drug, said Cameron McNamee, a spokesman for the state pharmacy board. It should also alert laboratories and coroners to test for it and persuade officials to add it to standard drug screening, he said. Isotonitazene is blamed for 18 deaths in the U.S., in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to a document released by the pharmacy board to explain the reason for its emergency meeting. "In the United States, isotonitazene is considered one of the most persistent and prevalent new opioids," the document says. "Data from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation finds that isotonitazene has been identified in the state at least 11 times since the start of 2020." The pharmacy board says isotonitazene was first reported in August 2019 and is sold online as a legal replacement for controlled opioids. Fake pharmaceutical pills have been found in Canada of the drug pressed into pills to resemble Dilaudid, a synthetic opioid similar to oxycodone. The state pharmacy board found that isotonitazene has no accepted medical use in Ohio and poses an imminent threat to public health, safety or welfare. The drug has no known medical uses. According to an article on isotonitazene in the "June" issue of "Reason" magazine, it is a research chemical.