TREASURE ISLAND, Fla. — A new synthetic drug emerging in Florida has caused more deadly overdoses in the Sunshine State than anywhere else in the country.
'Eutylone' is a form of synthetic psychoactive bath salt. It has rapidly emerged in the United States in the last five years, and it's making a deadly mark in Florida.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2020, more than 75% of eutylone-related fatal overdoses took place in either Florida or Maryland.
Florida Poison Information Center Associate Medical Director Dianna Dean said the chemical makeup of eutylone is similar to bath salts, but it's still a new drug, and that's cause for concern.
"The clinical intoxication is pretty much similar, it's similar to things that we've seen before but it's definitely on still a new drug," Dean said. "We don't have any kind of antidotes or experience dealing with something like this so it is very scary."
According to the CDC, overdose deaths linked to eutylone often also involve fentanyls, cocaine, and/or methamphetamine. The recreational drug market is littered with unpredictable mixtures of synthetic drugs, the president of Treasure Island's Footprints Beachside Recovery Center, John Templeton Jr., said.
"Right now is the most dangerous time in modern history to take any kind of drug," Templeton said. "What you're seeing is people that, maybe in the hospital from like an overdose, and they think they took one substance and then they see, you know, all these other drugs like eutylone in there that they had no idea about."
Templeton says the only guarantee you won't overdose on a synthetic drug like eutylone is to not take it.
"We do want to alarm the public that there are really dangerous chemicals out there and once they stop eutylone, they're going to figure something else out," Templeton added.
There is help out there for anyone struggling with drug addiction. You can call 2-1-1 to find resources near you. You can also contact the National Drug Helpline: (844) 289-0879.
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