Three men died 'after taking opioid N-pyrrolidino etonitazene'

Three men died within three months of each other ‘after taking designer opioid N-pyrrolidino etonitazene which is 1,000 times more powerful than morphine and is sold on dark web’

• Dylan Byfield-Levell, 20, Jakob Wozniak, 19, and Miles Davis, 27, died after taking 
• The drug is powerful and were bought on the dark web rather than the street 
  
• It’s thought to originate from China and arrived in the UK via Eastern Europe

Three young men have died within three months of each other after taking a new designer drug sweeping the dark web which is 1,000 times more powerful than morphine.

Students Dylan Byfield-Levell, 20, Jakob Wozniak, 19, and entrepreneur Miles Davis, 27, died after taking the opioid N-pyrrolidino etonitazene in Birmingham.

The deaths all took place between last October and January this year.

Dr Judith Yates, who analyses drug deaths in Birmingham, said she had been ‘shocked’ after seeing the opioid’s effects.

The powerful drug is known to be sold as a little blue pill with an ‘M’ on one side and the number ’30’ on the other. 

Speaking to the BBC she said: ‘These three cases have come out of the blue, we’ve never seen this chemical before in Birmingham.

The powerful drug N-pyrrolidino etonitazene is believed to be sold as a little blue pill with an ‘M’ on one side and the number ’30’ on the other (stock image)

An 18-year-old was the first person believed to have taken the drug last year. He was treated at University Hospitals Birmingham (Queen Elizabeth Hospital pictured)

‘There is no way to tell what’s in a tablet that you’re getting either online or on the street.’

The drugs appear to be a replacement for fentanyl, but are far more powerful and were being bought on the dark web rather than the street, Dr Yates added.

Mr Byfield-Levell, from Sutton Coldfield, was found collapsed at home by a relative at 5.15am on October 2 last year after a night out with friends.

 N-pyrrolidino etonitazene is a synthetic opioid, 20 times stronger than the drug fentanyl and 1,000 times stronger than morphine. 

The chemically manufactured opioids are designed to help patients suffering from chronic pain.

Recreational use of the chemically manufactured drug in the UK was first identified in May 2021.

It is thought to originate from China and later arrived in the UK via Russia or Eastern Europe. 

The drug has been found for sale on the dark web, rather than in the street. 

 It has been known to be sold as a little blue pill with an ‘M’ on one side and the number ’30’ on the other. 

 

The drugs were first discovered in the UK last year (stock image of what N-pyrrolidino etonitazene is believed to look like)

 

 

An inquest heard had he an underlying heart condition and Birmingham and Solihull coroner Emma Brown said he died from natural causes brought on by drugs and alcohol.

Mr Davis was found dead on October 10 last year and a pathologist has suggested the cause of death was N-pyrrolidino etonitazene toxicity.

Mr Wozniak, who died on January 3 this year, also had the drug in his system.

The deaths come after an 18-year-old man is believed to have been the first in the UK to take the drug last July.

The man was discovered unresponsive and breathing noisily by his mother who started CPR after calling an ambulance.

When paramedics arrived he had no pulse and was not breathing but was saved by an injection of an antidote naloxone.

He was rushed to University Hospitals Birmingham where he was treated by Dr Mark Pucci.

Dr Pucci said: ‘He was very lucky to survive. It was only really the quick thinking of his mother.

‘He went into respiratory arrest and cardiac arrest, so is very lucky to be alive.’

In a report he wrote into the teenage patient, Dr Pucci said animal studies showed the drug was 1,000 times more powerful than morphine.

He said: ‘These cases are not really picked up on routine drug tests, so there may well be other cases that we don’t yet know about.

‘I understand that there may be some recent cases in London.’

N-pyrrolidino etonitazene is made up of compounds originally developed in the 1950s and 60s.

They originate in China and arrive in the UK via Russia or Eastern Europe.

Dr Judith Yates (pictured) who analyses drug deaths in Birmingham, said she had been ‘shocked’ after seeing the opioid’s effects

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