The U.S. Department of Justice’s Los Angeles office has filed charges in what could be the nation’s first criminal case involving a synthetic opioid that may be more dangerous than fentanyl.
On Thursday, federal prosecutors announced the single count of distribution of protonitazene, resulting in the death of 21-year-old Benjamin Anthony Collins, an LA County resident. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years. The harshest possible penalty for this charge is life in prison.
The Justice Department alleges that Collins knowingly sold the pills to a 22-year-old man on April 19, 2024, according to the indictment.
By comparison, fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin. Protonitazene is three times more potent than fentanyl.
The young man ingested some of the pills in the front seat of his car shortly after allegedly purchasing them from Collins. The Justice Department said he died soon after taking the drugs. His mother found him dead in his parked car outside her home.
The Center of Forensic Science Research and Education believes the new opioid entered the illicit drug market in North America sometime before May 2021. The Justice Department believes this is the country’s first fatal criminal case involving protonitazene.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioid overdose deaths have fallen to the lowest number in three years. but remain at higher levels than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agency’s preliminary figures show that there were 75,091 opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. in the year ending in April. Last summer, the U.S. was estimated to reach more than 86,000 annual deaths.
Before the pandemic, there were fewer than 50,000 fatal overdoses per year.
