Nitazenes: Jetson Gordon’s grieving dad issue warning about deadly drug that claimed his son’s life
A grieving dad who lost his teenage son to a deadly drug has issued a harrowing warning in the hope that other families don’t through a similar tragedy.
Nitazenes, which are dubbed the Frankenstein of opioids, are 500 times more potent than heroin are being cut into party drugs and counterfeit prescription medication.
Already 17 lives have been lost to the synthetic street drug in Victoria alone – with many not suspecting what was in the powerful drug.
This was the case for Jetson Gordon, 18, who took a pill to help him sleep two years ago.
The apprentice carpenter who moved to Melbourne from northern NSW months earlier ordered oxycodone online but was unaware the drug sent to him was cut with nitazene – a drug that is a whopping 43 times stronger than fentanyl.
Jetson’s flatmate found him unresponsive the next morning and couldn’t revive him.
‘It’s been a living hell, you lose your son… it’s so preventable, just unfathomable,’ John Gordon told Nine News.
‘I don’t want this to happen to anyone else or any other family go through what we have had to go through.’
Jetson Gordon, 18, (left) with his dad John Gordon (right) took a pill to help him sleep – but he didn’t know that it contained the powerful drug nitazene. He died from an overdose and now his dad wants to warn others of the danger so it doesn’t happen to anybody else
The Australian Federal Police have put out a warning there could be an influx of nitazenes (pictured) hitting the streets of Melbourne within months
‘It’s horrendous, I never planned on this, we don’t get to have grandchildren anymore and we’ve got to prevent it from ever happening again,’
Penington Institute chief executive John Ryan wants people to know nitazenes are killing other Australians who had no idea they were consuming the drug.
‘They’re the Frankenstein of opiods, they’re made in the lab and they’re now out in the community actually killing people,’ he said.
Mr Ryan said Australia was failing in recognising the problem nitazenes were causing and inaction could cause the country to sleep walk into ‘an overdose catastrophy’.
The Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine’s (VIFM) Head of the Drug Intelligence Unit Jennifer Shumann said their testing lab is showing nitazenes present in cocaine and ecstasy tablets.
The drug has also been found mixed into MDMA, ketamine, heroine, counterfeit pharmaceuticals – and even vapes.
And Aussies should be worried – just two milligrams of nitazenes can be deadly.
Victoria Police is bracing for a wave of overdose deaths across the state in the coming months.
Commissioner Shane Patton described nitazenes as a ‘huge issue’ and has deployed a drugs task force to investigate where the drugs are coming from.
Jetson Gordon (pictured
The pills and black package they came in were found in Jetson Gordon’s room (pictured)
Drug overdose deaths have almost doubled in Australia over the last 20 years.
In 2022, where the latest data is from, more than 300 deaths occurred, which is more than the year before.
Eighty per cent of all those deaths were recorded as accidental.
The main drugs responsible for overdoses are opioids, followed by benzodiazepines and then methamphetamines and other stimulants.
