Is Trump's war on fentanyl missing a far deadlier synthetic drug problem hitting the US?

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2 days ago

As heroin supplies shrink and synthetic labs grow, nitazines step into the vacuum as the drugs get deadlier and harder to detect read more
The 2010s was the disastrous story of fentanyl. The 2020s might just be an echo of the same, this time with nitazenes.
Nitazenes were developed six decades ago in Switzerland, originally, as an alternative to morphine. However, due to its large potential for overdose it was never released on the market for public use. Now, according to The Wall Street Journal, nitazenes have been the cause of death for hundreds across Europe and left law enforcement 'scrambling to detect them in the drug supply and curb their spread.'
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Even as President Donald Trump has intensified his war on fentanyl, making it a central pillar of his administration's domestic and foreign policy agenda, the efforts are not proving to be enough. Declaring the opioid epidemic a top national security issue, Trump expanded efforts to secure the southern border, claiming it is a primary entry point for illicit fentanyl trafficked by Mexican drug cartels.
His administration is also pressing China and Mexico for greater cooperation in targeting precursor chemical production and smuggling networks. Domestically, Trump has pushed for harsher penalties for traffickers, including proposals for capital punishment in extreme cases, while also directing more federal resources toward interdiction and law enforcement. But his war on fentanyl has just steered clear of the far more dangerous nitazenes.
But where has this sudden rise in nitazenes come from? And what happens next?
Next synthetic killer
Nitazenes began appearing in drug seizures and overdoses in Europe and the US in the beginning of 2019. Since then it has spread rapidly in Europe, marking those who consume them with fatal overdoses.
When fentanyl came knocking on everyone's door in the US, Europe was able to protect itself. Vanda Felbab-Brown, senior fellow and expert on the global opioid trade with the Brookings Institution stated that 'Synthetic opioids in the U.S. have not been driven by demand, they have been driven wholesale by supply.' Could this be the same case for Europe?
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Currently, nitazene distribution is limited to individual sellers and buyers. The WSJ reported both Chinese suppliers as well as Pakistan-based web marketplaces selling nitazenes openly.
In 2022, the Taliban banned the cultivation of poppies. Afghanistan, till then, had been the supplier of 90 per cent of heroin, globally. Consequently, experts warned that this heroin shortage could lead to the emergence of more dangerous substances (like nitazenes) as gangs attempt to mix the drug with others. Notably, Felbab-Brown has stated that 'If large criminal groups such as Albanian mafia groups, Turkish criminal groups or Italian or Mexican groups get into supplying nitazenes to Europe on a large scale, we can anticipate a massive public healthcare catastrophe.'
Mixed, masked and missed
The mass production of synthetic opioids starting from the 2000s has paved the way for nitazenes to enter the market much like fentanyl did 20 years ago. Drug supply, which previously relied on agricultural crops, was now more elastic. Due to its high potency (five times that of fentanyl and up to 250 times that of heroin), nitazenes make production efficient. A few kilograms of the drug can supply thousands of potentially lethal doses.
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Even more dangerous is the fact that nitazenes are mixed into other drugs such as cocaine and cocaine, illegal vapes and even commonly used medication like Xanax and Valium, if illegally acquired.
This was seen in the case of 23-year old Alex Harpum. A rising opera singer, Harpum had bought Xanax pills illegally to help him sleep due to his ADHD medication. Given that nitazenes are not included in most drug and overdose tests today, the police overlooked it until Harpum's mother requested that the coroner test for nitazenes after her research into drug contaminants. The test yielded a positive result, affirming the presence of the potent synthetic opioid.
Although consumption of these drugs is fatal, dealers fundamentally aren't trying to kill their demand. However, due to their potency 'you need less for the same size of market so they're easier to smuggle.' according to Adam Holland — an opioid expert at the University of Bristol.
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Dealers, therefore, use bulking agents (e.g. - caffeine and paracetamol) to make significant profits by strengthening the product on the market.
Economics of overdose
The global drug is as much a lesson in economics as it is on social conditions. Policies and markets change, innovation increases and society responds in kind. Suppliers look towards production efficiency, lower costs and higher profits — all aimed at vulnerabilities in the market.
Look at Estonia in the 2000s; during the Taliban's first regime and subsequent banning of poppy cultivation, fentanyl quickly entered the market as a replacement for heroin. More potent than heroin and lethal, Estonia saw a fourfold increase in drug-related deaths in the span of two years and left the country in what the WSJ calls a 'fentanyl grip' that never truly loosened. Similarly, nitazenes infiltrated the Estonian market in 2023 and are reportedly involved in almost fifty percent of all drug-induced deaths in the nation.
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Nitazenes are not just the next wave in synthetic opioids — they are a reflection of how global drug markets adapt faster than our systems can respond. As synthetic opioids grow more potent and pervasive, the drug war is no longer about controlling crops — it's about outpacing chemistry.