"Unlike those drugs, which are derived from naturally occurring opium, nitazenes are synthesized from scratch in a laboratory. The first nitazenes were developed as painkillers in the 1950s, but were never approved for medical use because they carried a high risk of dangerous side effects such loss of consciousness, coma and death. But since 2019, there has been a rise in the reported use of nitazenes, according to the World Drug Report 2025, which was released in June."
"Nitazenes can be as much as 500 times more potent than opium-derived drugs. For example, butonitazene is 2.5 times more potent than heroin, whereas isotonitazene and etonitazene are 250 and 500 times more potent, respectively. This means that just a tiny amount can be deadly. In the United Kingdom, there were 179 confirmed deaths from nitazene overdoses in the year to 31 May 2024. And reports suggest that thousands of people might have died from nitazene overdoses in the United States since 2019."
Nitazenes are synthetic opioids created in laboratories, first developed in the 1950s as painkillers but never approved because of dangerous side effects including loss of consciousness, coma and death. Reported use has risen since 2019, with 20 different nitazenes seized across 28 countries in 2023 and reported to the UNODC Early Warning Advisory. Some nitazenes are hundreds of times more potent than opium-derived opioids, making tiny amounts deadly. Confirmed deaths include 179 in the UK year to 31 May 2024 and thousands possibly in the United States since 2019. Many overdoses are unintentional when nitazenes are sold as other drugs; naloxone can reverse overdoses and greater awareness could save lives.
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