A person has died after taking a substance containing a synthetic opioid in Queensland, just weeks after the government pushed law changes through parliament to ban community pill testing services.

Queensland Health issued a public health alert this month after strong synthetic opioids, known as nitazenes, were found in tablet samples.

The tablets looked like pale yellow teddy bears pressed with the letter "Y".

A Queensland Health spokesperson said the detection of "n-pyrrolidino protonitazene and protonitazene related to a coronial and police matter currently under investigation".

The department would not comment further on the death, but its public health alert said synthetic opioids worked like "heroin or fentanyl" and could produce "life-threatening toxicity in small amounts".

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