New synthetic opioids, 1000 times stronger than morphine, 300 times stronger than heroin, have fueled the US opioid crisis. They are called nitazenes.
In the US, the opioid crisis has caused over 110,000 deaths since 2010, while Europe has escaped a large-scale crisis. But at the end of 2023, a sudden peak in drug-related deaths was recorded in the UK – as a result of nitazene in particular.
Since then, at least three deaths a week have been linked to opioids in the country, according to the BBC.
Customs: 7,083 seized units in 2023
One explanation for the entry of opioids into the European market is believed to be that there has begun to be a shortage of heroin. Europe has previously received a large part of its heroin from Afghan poppy plantations. But according to a UN report opium production has plummeted by 95 percent in the country since the Taliban imposed a ban on poppy cultivation in April 2023.
According to several European drug experts this has left a hole in the market – which is being filled by synthetic opioids.
And nitazene in particular has already entered Sweden. In total, the Swedish Customs Service has seized 7,133 units of the nitazene variant Metonitazen in Sweden since 2022, of which 7,083 in 2023. But nitazenes are so new that there are still no separate codes for all variants, and the Swedish Customs Service believes that there is a larger number of unknowns as unknown drugs are classified under “other drugs”.
The doctor: There is every reason to be worried
The National Forensic Center also reports an increase in the number of seizures. In 2020, the first four seizures were made in Sweden. In 2024, 55 seizures have been made so far.
According to the Forensic Medicine Agency nitazenes alone or in combination with other substances have caused at least 29 poisoning deaths in Sweden since 2020.
– There is every reason to be concerned that this will spread, says Kai Knudsen, anesthesiologist and drug expert.
– We saw this with fentanyl when it came here, that many people died.
The heroinist: “Longer sells anything”
The concern now is that more addicts will switch to nitazenes when the heroin becomes harder to get hold of, and that more people will lose their lives as a result.
The heroine Manny, who Vice talked to, describes his first high on nitazene as bringing back the feeling of “the first time he took drugs”.
– Langare sells anything. They want the cheapest product for the most money, he tells the magazine.
Manny has lost six friends in the span of two weeks.