WESTFIELD, Ind. — A new drug has made an appearance in Westfield, and police want parents and the community to know about it.
It's technically called N-pyrrolidino Etonitazene, but often referred to as "pyro" or "M-30" and it's a high potency synthetic opioid.
Westfield police say it's anywhere between 1,000 and 1,500 times more powerful than morphine. For reference, fentanyl is only about 100 times more powerful than morphine.
It's virtually identical to fentanyl -- it's light blue in color with darker blue flecks scattered throughout the pill.
What's more worrisome, police say, is that it is being marketed and made to look like a conventional Oxycodone pill, with an "M" imprinted on the side and a "30" found on the other.
"They're made to look exactly look like an oxycodone pill, which is exactly what makes it so dangerous," said Westfield Police Department Sgt. Rafael Diaz, Westfield Police Department.
Diaz said people may be buying it unknowingly.
"They're possibly thinking they're purchasing a prescription pill and in reality, it's something completely different and something that can kill them," he said.
However, because opioids are often introduced through other delivery methods, police said, "pyro" could be found in powder, liquid or other forms.
And it's started popping up on the streets.
In Grant County, a law enforcement task force recently seized suspected M-30 pills. In Westfield, Diaz said they're finding M-30 on both adults and juveniles.
Westfield police are urging residents to avoid touching or coming into contact with anything resembling the drug and to contact law enforcement "immediately" if they do.
"We've had three instances in the past 30 days that we can confirm where we've found these M-30 pills and right now, those pills are going through toxicology testing to see exactly what's contained in them," Diaz said.
Because the pills are counterfeit, Diaz said the strength of the pills is inconsistent which can make them even more deadly.
And if someone overdoses on M-30, Diaz said an emergency dose of Narcan may not help.
"We don't know exactly what the ingredients are. So sometimes Narcan can be effective, sometimes it may not be. We just don't know, it depends on what exactly it contains," Diaz said.
That uncertainty is a big cause for concern from law enforcement. Now, police are now urging people more than ever not to buy and take drugs they're not prescribed.
"We know it's in the community, we know it's in the region. Obviously, we don't want anybody to take anything that's not prescribed to them, because we know these things can be deadly now," Diaz said.
"Parents, please talk with your children about the danger of drugs in general, but also the enhanced danger of 'look-a-like' and/or counterfeit drugs and what might be in them that we don't know about," Westfield police wrote in a public safety announcement on Facebook.
For reference, these are the symptoms of an overdose:
- Feeling euphoric or in a dreamlike state
- Sedation
- Itchiness
- Severe nausea and/or vomiting
- Severe sweating
- Slow respirations or difficulty breathing
- Blue lips or fingernails
- Cold and clammy skin
- Pinpoint pupils
- Unresponsive
- Losing consciousness
- Respiratory and/or cardiac arrest
- death
How to treat an overdose:
The first thing police say you should do? Call 911.
Then, naloxone should be administered to reverse critical respiratory depression and repeated administration may be necessary
Police say to be aware that clinical conditions may change rapidly and unpredictably after naloxone administration due to the precipitation of withdrawal.