The Italian government is sounding the alarm after 80 vials of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid up to one hundred times more powerful than morphine, were stolen from Rome's Israelitic Hospital.
The missing quantity would be enough to produce up to around 20,000 doses potentially destined for illicit use, which in countries such as the United States and Canada has become a national emergency.
Fentanyl is used legally in medicine as an anaesthetic and to treat severe pain, including in cancer patients. But taking this “party anaesthetic” for non-medical purposes has devastating effects. As little as 3 milligrams of the “zombie drug” (as it is known when mixed with xylazine) are enough to kill a person.
In Italy too, its growing spread on the illegal drug market has raised public health concerns, leading to a “National prevention plan against the improper use of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids” presented in March 2024 by the Anti-Drugs Policy Department of the Prime Minister's Office.
How the fentanyl theft unfolded
