Finnland. Seizure of 330 fake oxymorphone tablets containing metonitazene — Kouvola, Finland, May 2024

Dear Colleagues,

Further to the advisory issued on Friday 12 June 2024 on the outbreak in Ireland linked to fake benzodiazepine tablets containing protonitazene, we wanted to inform you of a recent seizure of 330 fake oxymorphone tablets containing metonitazene in Kouvola, Finland, at the end of May 2024 (1).

The tablets were seized in white plastic bottles with screw-on lids and labelled as ‘Oxymorphone Hydrochloride Tablets 40 mg’. Please see the attached photographs from the Finnish Police.

Since 2021, at least 12 countries (41%) in the EWS Network have reported seizures of tablets containing nitazenes: Austria, Germany, Ireland, Hungary, Finland, France, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden, Netherlands, and Norway.

During 2023, there was a significant increase in the quantity of tablets containing nitazenes seized in Europe compared to previous years. Preliminary data suggests approximately 24,000 tablets were seized in 2023, compared to 430 in 2022 and 189 in 2021. In 2023, 74% of the tablets contained metonitazene, 24% N-desethyl isotonitazene, 1% protonitazene, and <1% isotonitazene.

We kindly remind you to expedite the reporting the detection of fake medicines containing nitazenes to EUDA in order to better understand the risks they pose.

We would like to thank our colleagues in the Finnish National Focal Point and Finnish Police for the timely reporting of this information. (European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA), 15.07.2024)

https://poliisi.fi/-/kaakkois-suomen-poliisi-takavarikoi-erittain-vaarallista-huumausainetta