Teddy bear-shaped pills laced with synthetic opioids have been linked to a death in Queensland, triggering a public health warning about a group of highly potent illicit drugs called nitazenes .

N-pyrrolidino-protonitazene and protonitazene were detected in toxicology and samples taken from pale yellow pills marked with the letter “Y” in the state’s south-east.

A Queensland Health spokesperson said on Friday the detection “relates to a coronial matter currently under investigation” but could not comment further on the fatality.

A Queensland public health warning released last week states n-pyrrolidino-protonitazene and protonitazene are nitazenes, a group of “very strong synthetic opioids that work like heroin or fentanyl and can produce life-threatening toxicity in small amounts”.

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