Colorado man dies after taking drug "10 times stronger than fentanyl"

A man has died in the USA after taking a new drug thought to be 10 times more potent than fentanyl.

Coroners in Boulder, Colorado, say a man died from overdosing on the lethal substance - thought to be the first case of its kind in America. The drug, which has been named n-desethyl etonitazene, is a synthetic opiod believed to have originated in China.

The tablets became popular during the 1980s, but in this case had been contaminated with nitazines.

Commander Nicholas Goldberger of the Boulder County Drug Task Force said: "There are so many different constructional components to different nitazenes out there. We're actively looking at two cases which reference nitazenes and of course our primary look appears to be that the substances are coming from the dark web for these or at least one of the cases.

"There are plenty of people who are using drugs, pick a drug it doesn't matter, if they live through it, law enforcement doesn't know anything about it.

"Maybe that one drug, again, pick any drug, has been in the area for months or weeks or days but we won't know about it because it's an incident where law enforcement or medical has not been called in to assist or they don't have an investigation for that chemical, for that drug."

The man died earlier this year, but the cause of death has only just been idenfitied after the autopsy was completed.