“Our study reveals the growing trend of synthetic opioid use in communities and our non-invasive approach to detect these emerging drugs, helping public health officials to respond more effectively and shape informed policies,” explains Ramesh Sapkota, an author of the study.

Opioid drugs including oxycodone, heroin and fentanyl have fueled an ever-worsening epidemic in the US. And after giant events in New Orleans they are popping up in the wastewater.

Synthetic opioids such as nitazenes are emerging as new drugs that are being misused. Nitazenes were first developed as an alternative to morphine in the 1950s but carried too high an overdose risk for clinical use. However, they re-emerged in the illicit drug market around 2019. And although they frequently appear in overdose-related deaths, not all jurisdictions are monitoring for them yet.

For example, Louisiana’s Department of Health reported that 46% of overdose deaths in 2023 were caused by opioids, but none officially report nitazene involvement, contradicting the national trends reported by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And their most commonly found nitazene analogue, metonitazene, is 1,000 times more potent than morphine.

To monitor this emerging risk, Sapkota, Emilia Lomnicki and Bikram Subedi turned to a method that could provide near real-time, non-invasive results: wastewater monitoring. They say this is the first time that this technique has been used to track several nitazene compounds in municipal wastewater.

The researchers specifically focused on the period surrounding and including the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras in New Orleans (Jan. 23 to March 31, 2025) and collected a total of 28 samples from a treatment plant estimated to serve nearly 300,000 people. The analyses detected seven of the nine nitazenes down to trace levels in wastewater. And their most commonly found nitazene analogue, metonitazene, is 1,000 times more potent than morphine. Surprisingly, some analogues were found at similar levels during the week of the big events and the week after, and some were only found after Mardi Gras had concluded.

These estimates do not provide insight into the consumption rate of nitazene analogues because the excretion rates of these drugs must be understood first. However, early detection of these dangerous substances is incredibly important, especially during high-traffic events like those studied here.

“With this knowledge, valuable insight into the evolving dynamics of the overdose crisis is gained, and a discussion on public health responses to combat these illicit drugs and prevent further loss of life is opened,” concludes Lomnicki.

Wastewater treatment facilities do not adequately filter drugs and chemicals from drinking water and tap water. While some studies show high removal rates (>90%) for certain drugs, others indicate that many opioids, particularly synthetic ones, pass through standard treatment, leading to their release into environmental waters. 

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The Taliban walks between hypocrisy and holiness while trying to figure out how to profit from poppies and not damage its local economy. Image via the NY Times. 

Off-grid solar panels that provide electricity to water pumps in lost and forlorn areas in Afghanistan have led to an opium bounty. The solar pumps that are stand alone and not connected to an official electricity supply have allowed Afghans to dig deeper. The idea started around 2014 and bumper crops have appeared since.

In response the Taliban which both profits and denounces opium when it suits them, have started dismantling solar arrays so opium crops dry out. 

Still, more and more Afghans are investing several hundred dollars a year for seeds and equipment hoping to make a ballpark $5000 profit. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Afghanistan produced 83 percent of the world’s opium from 2015 to 2020. In short, if you use heroin, you fund terror.

The solar-powered electric pumps also allow farmers to grow all manners of crops such as wheat, pomegranates and garden plots in a critical time when dozens of millions of Afghans face extreme food insecurity.

While the various Afghan governments over the years have pledged to stamp out opium production and drug trafficking they are unable to forgo the billions of dollars of profits. Opium feeds and fuels the Taliban: 

“We’ve stood by on the sidelines and, unfortunately, allowed the Taliban to become probably the largest funded non-designated terrorist organization on the globe,” said a US official with knowledge of Afghanistan’s drug trade.

“The US and international partners have continued to pull out and not addressed poppy cultivation,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “What you’re going to find is that it has exploded.”

Now after 20 years and the Taliban back in power they announced April 3 that poppy cultivation is outlawed and violators will be punished under Shariah law.

The Taliban had enforced an effective ban on poppy cultivation in 2001, just before a US-led international military intervention toppled the regime. From 2002 to 2021, the US government spent almost $9 billion on counternarcotics as it fought Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

Taliban bans opium production for their benefit

The opium business earned Afghanistan about $1.8 billion to $2.7 billion last year, according to the United Nations with sales accounting for up to 14% of its GDP.   

According to a European Union-funded research project by David Mansfield opium farmers now rely on at least 67,000 solar powered water reservoirs. He has studied illegal economies and rural livelihoods in Afghanistan for the last two decades.

“It’s too bad for Afghans because poppy is the wealth of the Afghan people,” Shah Agha, 35, a poppy farmer from the Zari District of Kandahar, told the NY Times in a recent article.

“I think they banned it for their own benefit because most of the smugglers and Taliban commanders have tons of opium, and they might want to increase the prices,” Mr. Agha added.

Vice reported from the field about a month ago and noticed that despite the ban, it was harvest as usual.

With pictures in the Vice article of kids playing with bags of opium in the fields it’s easy to imagine the toll of addiction in Afghanistan in all ages abd walks of life. And it’s not only there.:Iran also faces drug addiction from illicit drugs such as heroin. 

The post Solar panels driving opium trade in Afghanistan appeared first on Green Prophet.

They crush local black ants (Pachycondyla sennaarensis) and blend the crumbs in tobacco, drop them into a medhwak (smoking pipe) or sprinkle them on regular smokes before lighting up, according to Gulf News. Health officials say the consequences could be far more harmful than smoking marijuana or hashish.

In certain neighborhoods of Sharjah and Dubai, teens can be found searching alleys and parking lots for the native red ants, called samsun. The fumes from the burnt insect produce visual and auditory hallucinations like those induced by marijuana.

“Samsun ants contain highly concentrated formic acid which is used by the insect to ward off predators and kill prey. When heated the formic acid produces toxic gases. They are not addictive but inhaling them can cause pulmonary fibrosis and renal failure besides other conditions including irreversible nervous system damage,” a Dubai-based pulmonologist told Gulf News.

When they bite, formic acid causes necrosis or deadening of the tissues. Mohammed al Ali, 27, believes the trend started with labourers from the subcontinent who roll the ants into their bhindis – pure tobacco cigarettes rolled up using a tobacco leaf. “It’s a social thing for Indian workers,” the Emirati told The National News. “Go to Satwa Square and they are sitting there smoking the ants they rolled up into their bhindis.

Dubai’s Tobacco Control committee said it was aware of the ant smoking fad, although they have yet to gauge how widespread the habit is among Arab teens. “Until last year there would be just two of three boys, but now there are several groups,” a local Sharjah resident told the website.

“For some teens, the acid in the poison glands of ants smells like vinegar and they inhale its pungent fumes to get a kick. It’s very dangerous as it can cause lung and other diseases,” Dr. Wedad Al Maidoor, Head of the National Tobacco Control Committee, Ministry of Health, told Gulf News. Dr. Reza Khan, wildlife specialist at Dubai Municipality, said a bite by the ant can be fatal for people with allergies if they are not immediately treated in a hospital.

The fad may have started in labor camps where impoverished guest workers smoke ant-filled beedis (hand-rolled cigarettes made of tendu leaves) as a cheap alternative to illegal drugs.

Smoking ants can cause lung diseases and kidney failure, and in some cases, it can also cause sudden death.

The post Smoked out ants! appeared first on Green Prophet.

A queer smell arose from the bomb shelter of the Kiryat Gat school for Haredi girls located about 35 miles south of Tel Aviv, The Jerusalem Post reports.

One teacher followed her nose, so to speak, and stumbled upon a professional growing lab in a bomb shelter below the school, which was complete with all the special lamps and irrigation technology required to grow twelve marijuana plants in a dark, enclosed space.

But here’s where it gets funny. Perhaps to divert negativity away from the Orthodox community, law enforcement officials were quick to say they will explore the possibility that a stranger to the school had coveted the space for their illegal drug operation.

In fact, they are going to launch a full-scale undercover operation to root out the bad guy (girl?) with an attitude reminiscent of that recently directed towards 269life vegan activists who protested the meat industry with decapitated animal heads scattered in visible public places in Tel Aviv and surrounding neighborhoods.

Most rabbis consider all kinds of smoking to be a form of self-endangerment, so – given marijuana’s mild mind altering qualities caused by the presence of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – it’s probably safe to say that finding a pot growing lab at an Orthodox school is pretty darn scandalous.

However, and this is the case with so much in Israel, the country has a split personality when it comes to marijuana.

Expressly illegal, though rarely penalized when used for personal consumption, the plant is legally cultivated for people suffering from chronic illness. The heavily guarded Tikkun Olam farm in the Galilee, where Jesus once walked, is the biggest source of the country’s medical marijuana.

The government dishes out special licenses to ensure those suffering from cancer and other crippling diseases can seek relief from the plant’s palliative properties.

Researchers with the Hebrew University have even developed a marijuana pill, according to the New York Times, in preparation for the day when the world is evolved enough to permit export of such a thing.

As for the girls, they’ll be on their best behavior while the cops are snooping around. Unless they found our Moroccan love potion spiced with pot?

Image of indoor marijuana garden, Shutterstock

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