After recent overdoses, the Drug Foundation says many potent drugs can appear similar - but what might be a typical volume of one could be fatal if another is used the same way. They urge people to get their drugs tested to be sure they know what they are taking. File photo Photo: AFP/ Juan Pablo Pino
Police are urging people to ditch their drugs after three people accidentally overdosed in Wairarapa.
Three people were hospitalised at the weekend after taking a white powder they thought was cocaine, but police believe was an opioid.
Detective Inspector John van den Heuvel said police did not know how widespread the drug had circulated and the risk was not worth it.
"Police's advice is always, 'don't consume illicit substances' you just don't know what it is you're taking.
"My advice would be to ditch it, throw it away, get rid of it."
If people did choose to take illicit drugs, he said they should at least take advantage of drug checking services.
He said police would be interviewing the victims as part of their investigation to find the source of the drug and were awaiting blood test results to help identify it.
Van den Heuvel said there was no evidence to suggest any link to a mass-fentanyl overdose in Wairarapa a couple of years ago, but police were not ruling it out.
In 2022, a dozen people in the region ended up in hospital after accidentally taking the synthetic opioid, believing it to be cocaine or methamphetamine.
Drug Foundation executive director Sarah Helm said the recent overdose was a reminder that potent opioids were in circulation in New Zealand and that they could be fatal.
She said it was likely more than a dozen New Zealanders had died in recent years as a result of overdosing on nitazenes - a group of synthetic opioids.
Drug checking providers and the foundation have been sounding the alarm on nitazenes since 2023 after seeing a rise in circulation.
Helm said the synthetic opioids were even stronger than fentanyl - which was why they were so dangerous when ingested unwittingly.
"When somebody takes an opioid by mistake thinking they're taking cocaine, they're taking really different amounts, and it can result in overdose or even overdose fatality."
She said people planning on taking drugs should tested at clinics or with free testing strips.
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