Nitazène: a Swiss drug sows death in Europe

In recent months, there has been a lot of question of the fentanyl crisis and the ravages caused by this drug, especially in the United States. But another narcotic synthesis, potentially even more dangerous, gradually creeps into the consumption of young Europeans: Nitazène. Developed in the 1950s in Switzerland, this opiate would be up to 250 times more powerful than heroin and 5 times more powerful than fentanyl, reveals the “Wall Street Journal”.

A micro-dose that can already be fatal, even purely medical use is not authorized. But Nitazena, manufactured mainly in China, is now increasingly found mixed with other substances, such as heroin, fentanyl or counterfeit anxiolytics, explains “Blick”. This is how the number of overdoses is literally exploding in Germany, France, Sweden, Norway or even in the United Kingdom, according to the European Drug Observatory. For Switzerland, little information is available.

Vicki Markiewicz, director of the organization changes Grow Live, for the treatment of addictions, also considers that Nitazène represents “probably the greatest public health crisis for drug users in the United Kingdom since the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.” In all, it is estimated that at least 400 deaths linked to an overdose involving Nitazène in the United Kingdom, between June 2023 and January 2025. But the victims could be much more numerous.

The problem is that Nitazène is still largely overlooked. Therefore, few toxicological tests are carried out concerning him and most consumers swallow it, sniff or injected them without their knowledge. Blick quotes, for example, the case of a mother who had to have the drugs that her son took before before her death, the authorities having concluded that an unexplained cardiac arrest. And this is how she discovered that the Xanax smuggling tablets found in the young man’s room contained this product.