When it comes to illegal addictive substances, most people probably think of the “big four”: marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin. The world of drugs, however, is far more diverse and complex, which is precisely one of the reasons why the war against them is utterly futile.
When the United States significantly restricted access to substances needed to manufacture methamphetamine at the beginning of this century, it achieved only one thing—it pushed production into Mexico. The Mexican government later took the same step as Washington, and drug traffickers responded once again, this time by sourcing the necessary chemicals in Asia. Despite the efforts of both governments, Mexican cartels have for many years been producing enormous quantities of cheap, high-quality methamphetamine. From the perspective of advocates of drug prohibition, however, the entire story is even more depressing.
The ability to obtain suitable precursors in other markets represents only the tip of the iceberg. Since multiple chemicals can be used to produce methamphetamine, banning or restricting access to one substance can easily be circumvented by purchasing another. And not only are there many methods of producing methamphetamine, but chemists working for criminal organizations are also capable of manufacturing pre-precursors, from which they then produce the required precursors themselves. And this is still only about methamphetamine.
If criminals want to produce a drug with stimulant effects, they obviously do not have to limit themselves to methamphetamine alone. Chemists are capable of synthesizing a whole range of other stimulants whose effects are essentially the same as those of methamphetamine. And for each individual substance, the same applies as with methamphetamine: its production process can be very easily modified if necessary.
These so-called new psychoactive substances can mimic the effects of classic drugs and, thanks to regular modifications of their chemical structure, can also remain completely legal—at least until they are added to the list of banned substances. At that point, another minor modification of the chemical structure can be made, resulting in yet another new psychoactive substance that the law fails to cover. And so it goes on and on, since the structure of a substance can be modified in an essentially infinite number of ways.
Harsh reality
Many ordinary people undoubtedly believe that by seizing marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, or heroin, the world will rid itself of cannabinoids, stimulants, and opioids. Nothing could be further from the truth. For example, between 2015 and 2024 the European Union identified 535 entirely new psychoactive substances on the market. Specifically, these included 143 cannabinoids (that is, equivalents of marijuana), 99 cathinones (equivalents of stimulants such as cocaine or methamphetamine), and 76 opioids (equivalents of heroin).
The tragicomic absurdity of the war on drugs is also illustrated by the fact that many new psychoactive substances are far more dangerous than classic drugs. And although the United States has plunged into the worst drug epidemic in its history because of fentanyl, Europeans have failed to learn from this tragedy.
When the Taliban banned opium production in 2022, its vast reserves gradually began to dwindle. Instead of responding appropriately, however, lawmakers in Europe passively waited to see how drug traffickers would deal with the disappearing heroin from Afghanistan. While some criminals turned to Myanmar for opium, others turned to Chinese chemists producing synthetic opioids, including nitazenes.
Nitazenes were developed by Swiss scientists back in the 1950s as potential painkillers. They were, however, so dangerous that they were never approved for legal use. As a result, they found only limited application on the illicit drug market. Even there, they failed to gain significant traction, and after brief episodes in Italy (1966), Germany (1987), and other countries, they faded into obscurity—until 2019.
When China, under pressure from the United States, began to restrict fentanyl production, some Chinese chemists dusted off old chemistry textbooks. After decades, nitazenes thus reemerged. They first made their way to the American market, where more than ten different nitazene derivatives appeared within a few years. And while some are comparable in potency to heroin, others are even far more dangerous than fentanyl.
In the hands of European traffickers, nitazenes followed the same path as fentanyl in the United States. Sometimes they were added to classic drugs; other times they were sold as heroin. Following the U.S. fentanyl model, counterfeit oxycodone tablets containing nitazenes eventually appeared in Europe as well.
Although the scale of the opioid disaster cannot be the same in Europe as on the other side of the Atlantic for many reasons, nitazenes have nevertheless managed to cause significant harm in some areas. In 2023, they were responsible for the majority of overdose deaths in Estonia and Latvia. In Estonia, nitazenes caused approximately 4.5 deaths per one hundred thousand inhabitants, while in the neighboring country the figure rose as high as 5.5. Given the population size, nitazenes thus caused more deaths in Latvia in 2023 than cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin combined did in the United States.
Incidentally, in the following year the European Union identified another seven nitazene analogs. These, however, accounted for only 15 percent of all new psychoactive substances that appeared on the drug market for the first time in 2024. The relevant list therefore represents yet another in an endless series of proofs of the futility of the war on drugs.
Sources:
National Institute on Drug Abuse. Drug Overdose Deaths: Facts and Figures, Overdose data 1991-2023. August 2024.
Ovalle, David. On the streets, opioids sometimes more potent than fentanyl: Nitazenes. Washington Post. 2023-12-10.
Rannazzisi, Joseph. Statement before the Caucus on International Narcotics Control, United States Senate. 2013-09-25.
The European Union Drugs Agency. EU Drug Market: New psychoactive substances — Distribution and supply in Europe: New opioids. 2024-06-27.
The European Union Drugs Agency. European Drug Report 2025: Trends and Developments. 2025.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. World Drug Report 2025. 2025.