The mainland has always maintained a high-pressure posture of cracking down on crimes involving the abuse of addictive substances such as narcotic drugs. A few days ago, the National Medical Products Administration, the Ministry of Public Security, and the National Health Commission jointly issued an announcement to include dextromethorphan, diphenoxylate compound preparations, nalfurraphine, and lorcaserin in the list of Class II psychotropic drugs, which will come into force on July 1, 2024.
In June 2023, some media reported that etomidate was abused, and many teenagers became addicted to it, which is extremely harmful. In October 2023, etomidate was included in the list of Class II psychotropic drugs by the state.
Recently, a white or light yellow powdery substance "tiletamide" was exposed as a substitute for controlled drugs and added to e-cigarettes for sale.
"Telectamine" is a veterinary anesthetic that is mainly used for anesthesia in pets or small animals. Because its chemical structure and body reaction after ingestion are similar to the drug ketamine, visual and auditory hallucinations will occur after smoking.
So, what are the dangers of smoking the veterinary anesthetic "tilectamine"? How can the abuse of new addictive substances be effectively reduced?
The picture is from the Hubei anti-drug WeChat public account
Recently, a reporter recorded the process of illegal sellers selling new addictive substances through various secret methods through unannounced visits.
The word "meto" in the above conversation refers to "medetomidate", and "reliance" refers to etomidate, all three substances have a risk of addiction.
In October 2023, etomidate was included in the list of Class II psychotropic drugs by the state. "Telectamine" and medetomidate have been used by criminals and have become substitutes for etomidate after tubes.
A senior police officer from the case investigation squadron of the anti-drug brigade of the Public Security Bureau of Zaoyang City, Hubei Province, said in an interview that in a case in the first half of 2024, the anti-drug brigade seized 2 etomidate e-cigarettes and 10 drug substitutes "for letamine" on the spot. The police said: "A drug addict in Zaoyang found that someone was selling etomidate on the Internet, and contacted a person on an overseas chat software, and they added WeChat privately, and they chatted, saying that they were willing to deliver the goods." We set up an ambush in advance while they were trading, and then captured them on the spot. In order to sell for more money, he only sold two etomidates, and the rest was all made up with 'substitute letamine'. ”
In the first half of 2024, the police in Zaoyang, Hubei Province cracked a case of buying and selling etomidate and "substitute letamine" (photo provided by the interviewee)
"Telectamine" is a chemical used for anesthesia in animals. Su Mengxiang, a professor at the "Office of the National Narcotics Control Commission and the Joint Laboratory of Key Technologies for Drug Control at China Pharmaceutical University," said that after the database and pharmacopoeia of the State Drug Administration, the mainland has not approved "telotamine" or telotamine hydrochloride for human use.
Su Mengxiang said: "'Telitamine' is an analogue of ketamine, which is what we often call K powder, so its anesthetic and sedative effect is obvious. However, from the perspective of drug supervision, if it is not approved by our country's Drug Administration for clinical use, it is not used for human use, but only for veterinary drugs. Including the British Pharmacopoeia and the Japanese Pharmacopoeia, none of them include 'tiletamide' and its corresponding preparations. The United States Pharmacopeia lists tilectamine hydrochloride and tilétamine for injection, but both are labeled for veterinary use only. ”
"Telitamine" is an analogue of ketamine and may also pose a risk of addiction.
Xu Jie, director of the drug rehabilitation department at Beijing High-tech Hospital, said: "At present, we will find this situation in our testing. Some parents find that their children have these problems, such as some unconscious, they will send suspicious items in the house (for testing), and will draw blood for him to check, and may send them to our drug testing center, and after our drug testing center (testing), it can be found that this drug is used. ”
The greater danger of "telectamine" being used for smoking is that due to the lack of public data on the drug in humans, it is impossible to determine its value in clinical treatment, toxicity and even lethality.
Su Mengxiang said: "It is not clear what kind of toxicity 'tilatamine' in the human body is. There are also some literature on drug abuse, which reports that people abuse 'tiletamine', such as 8.25mg/kg 'telotamine', which can make gorillas die of respiratory depression after 5 hours, and there is also a case of a 35-year-old veterinarian abroad who abused the drug himself and moved his limbs involuntarily. It may cause involuntary movements, disorientation, loss of consciousness and even death. Therefore, preclinical studies have also shown that 'tilectamine' may stimulate the reward system in the brain, and it is clear that it is addictive, but there is a lack of research data on how harmful this addiction is to the human body. ”
The police of the case investigation squadron of the anti-drug brigade of the public security bureau of Zaoyang City, Hubei Province, told reporters that in addition to "substitute for tamine", there are many other drug substitutes in actual cases, because they are added to e-cigarettes and other products, which are extremely hidden.
The police of the case investigation squadron of the anti-drug brigade of the Zaoyang Public Security Bureau said: "There are a lot of new substitutes on the market, such as medetomidate, ipratropium (bromide), and 'tiletamine', because it is very flexible and convenient to add to e-cigarettes, especially among teenagers." Because the policy and law are a little lagging behind, we are not very strong in cracking down, and we may be able to crack down on other crimes, which is not enough to sell drugs. ”
Xu Jie, director of the drug rehabilitation department of Beijing High-tech Hospital, believes that in addition to adding the abused addictive substances to the control list in a timely manner and intensifying the crackdown, it is also very important to actively publicize and improve the awareness of the whole society about new psychoactive substances.
Xu Jie said: "Because they feel that traditional drugs like heroin are very harmful and cannot be used. But the new type of drug, sometimes it is not immediately harmful, it is relatively lagging behind, leading them to think that this thing is not so harmful. (In addition) because of the new type of drug, it will be hidden, like in a cigarette cartridge (e-cigarette), and some people even put it in a plant as a disguise, and the addiction does not appear immediately, so this awareness needs to be improved. Not only young people, but also the whole society should raise awareness of new psychoactive substances, so that we can truly prevent and reject drugs. ”
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Source: CCTV Comprehensive Voice of China, CCTV Network