TAMPA – A new synthetic drug is emerging in Florida is causing more deadly overdoses than anywhere else in the country.
“We’re just starting to see it and we’re already seeing overdose deaths from it,” said Footprints Beachside Recovery Center President John Templeton Jr.
Eutylone, a synthetic psychoactive bath salt, is making a deadly mark in Florida.
According to the CDC, 75% of eutylone related overdoses in 2020 took place in either Florida or Maryland.
“It’s similar to things that we’ve seen before but it’s definitely still a new drug,” said Dianna Dean, the associate medical director of the Florida Poison Information Center.
She says dealing with new drugs is always a concern.
“We don’t have any kind of antidotes or any specific experience taking care of this and so that is very scary,” Dean said.
According to the CDC, overdose deaths linked to eutylone often also involve fentanyl, cocaine and/or methamphetamine.
“It is the most dangerous time ever in our modern history to be using drugs,” said Templeton.
Templeton says the reality of today’s recreational drug market is you can never be sure of what you’re taking.
“What you’re probably seeing is people that end up 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,” Templeton said.
Templeton says the only guarantee you won’t overdose on a synthetic drug like eutylone is not to 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,” he said.
