Report: Highly potent opioids now show up in drug users in Africa

FILE - A young man smokes kush, a derivative of cannabis mixed with synthetic drugs like fentanyl and tramadol and chemicals like formaldehyde, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, April 29, 2024.

Traces of highly potent opioids known as nitazenes have for the first time been found to be consumed by people who use drugs in Africa, according to a report released Wednesday by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, a nonprofit organization.