A dangerous new class of synthetic opioids, nitazenes,is spreading rapidly across the globe. Developed initially as painkillers in the 1950s, nitazenes were never approved for medical use due to their extreme potency. Today, they’re being used as illicit narcotics, often mixed into other substances without users’ knowledge, leading to a wave of overdoses and deaths, as reported by Meduza.
Nitazenes: The New Drug Deadlier Than Heroin or Fentanyl
Nitazenes were first synthesised by Swiss pharmaceutical company Ciba (now Novartis) in the 1950s. Although intended as pain relievers, their medical use was halted early on due to their extreme potency and lethal side effects, even in small doses.
Over the decades, they occasionally surfaced in Europe and Russia: in Italy (1966), Germany (1987), and Russia (1998), where at least 20 people died from one variant, etonitazene. According to Kommersant, Russian police at the time believed the drug was being made by unemployed chemists working in underground labs.
A Global Surge: Cheap to Make, Lethal to Use
The recent spread of nitazenes began around 2019, fueled by new regulations in China that restricted fentanyl production and Afghanistan’s poppy ban, which cut heroin supplies. Looking for alternatives, underground producers turned to old pharmaceutical records and rediscovered nitazenes.
Since then, more than 10 nitazene variants have appeared across 28 countries, including the U.S., UK, Australia, Latvia and others. Hundreds of deaths have been linked to the drug:
- UK: at least 485 deaths
- USA: 320 deaths
- Latvia: 101 deaths
- Australia: 17 deaths
Nitazenes are typically produced in China and sold online, often disguised in innocuous packaging, such as dog food, to evade customs.
Stronger, Cheaper, Deadlier
Nitazenes are 50–250 times stronger than heroin and 10–50 times more potent than fentanyl, making them ideal for smuggling in small doses and highly profitable. In Europe, one gram can generate up to €600 in profit.
Their real danger lies in the fact that users often have no idea they’re ingesting nitazenes. Dealers mix them with everything from other illegal narcotics to prescription pills like Xanax and Oxycodone and even vape liquids.
In one case from 2023, a 23-year-old in the UK died after buying Xanax online. A toxicology report later revealed the pills contained nitazenes.
Europe Faces a Growing Threat
Experts warn that while nitazenes currently make up a small portion of the drug market, their spread is accelerating. The threat is grave in Europe, where heroin remains the dominant opioid, but is being outmatched in potency and availability by nitazenes.
In contrast, the United States continues to battle fentanyl as its main crisis, although nitazene-related deaths are rising there too.
Estonia’s Opioid Crisis Evolves
Estonia was the first European country to detect nitazenes in 2019. The nation has a history of opioid struggles: after U.S. operations in Afghanistan disrupted heroin supplies in the 2000s, Estonia became the center of a devastating fentanyl epidemic.
Although the crisis was largely curbed by 2017, nitazenes have reversed that progress. Between 2022–2023, 130 Estonians died from nitazene overdoses, accounting for half of all drug-related deaths in the country.
According to law enforcement in Tallinn, most users come from Russian-speaking neighbourhoods like Kopli and Lasnamae, where drug subcultures from the Soviet era linger. Speaking to Postimees, narcotics officer Rait Pikaro explained that just as heroin was replaced by fentanyl, nitazenes are now taking fentanyl’s place.
Latvia: Another Victim of the Nitazene Trade
Pikaro noted that most nitazenes entering Estonia come from Latvia, another country severely affected by the drug. In 2023, nitazenes killed 101 Latvians.
Despite ongoing police efforts, the drug trade remains lucrative, and new dealers quickly replace those arrested.
“There’s a lot of money in this game,” said Kalvis Klints of Latvia’s organised crime division in an interview with Postimees.
Nitazenes are quickly becoming one of the most dangerous threats in global narcotics, because of their extreme potency, low cost and ease of production. Unlike fentanyl or heroin, nitazenes are often invisible threats, hidden in everyday substances and undetectable by unknowing users, until it’s too late.
