Currently, 22 Nitaizens are being monitored in Europe and an assessment of the mainstream threats by EUDA, centered on the new synthetic opiates present in the Baltic States, concluded that these substances were responsible for a significant percentage of overdose and altogonism deaths in the sake
A total of 88 synthetic opiates, which have a heroin -like effect, have emerged on the European market since 2009, substances that can be extremely powerful and with risk of poisoning and death for consumers.
The alert is in the 2025 report of the European Union on Drug Agency (EUDA), which estimates that in 2023, 7,500 drug -induced deaths were reported, 400 more than 2022, mainly involving opiates in combination with other substances.
In Portugal, the most recent estimates indicate a prevalence of opioid consumption between 3.0 and 7.0 per 1,000 inhabitants – approximately 28,000 users -, which represents a slight decrease in the number of consumers compared to previous estimates.
The Lisbon -based agency document stresses that the European opiox market continues to evolve, and several substances beyond heroin is currently available, including synthetic, which operate in the brain with very similar effects to heroin.
These new substances play a relatively small role in the European drug market in general, but they occupy a prominent place in the Baltic countries, and “there is also a growing concern” regarding their use in other European Union Member States, the report says.
According to EUDA, since 2009, 88 new synthetic opioids have emerged on the often extremely powerful European market, creating risks of poisoning and death, and by 2024 all seven new synthetic substances formally notified were Nitazens, significantly stronger than heroin.
Currently, 22 Nitaizens are being monitored in Europe and an assessment of the EUDA recently performed threats, centered on the new synthetic opiates present in the Baltic States, concluded that these substances were responsible for a significant percentage of overdose deaths in Estonia and Latvia.
The report also highlights the increasing availability in Europe of fake drugs that contain Nitazens, which usually mimic legitimate drugs subject to prescription, such as oxycodone and benzodiazepines.
“This fact arouses concerns about the possibility that these products are used by a wider range of consumers, including young people,” warns Euda, who admits that a future reduction in heroin availability in Europe, following the ban on the chicken of opium papoila in Afghanistan, could lead to the gaps in the European markets to be filled by opiates. synthetic.
Regarding the stimulating drug market, the report highlights the greater availability of synthetic catinons, which is reflected in “unprecedented imports and seizures”.
In 2023, a total of at least 37 tons of synthetic catinons was identified in Europe, exceeding 27 tons of 2022 and 4.5 tons in 2021.
This year, 53 places of synthetic catinon production, some of which were on a large scale, were dismantled in the European Union, especially in Poland, an euda number considers to be an example of the significant intensification of drug production in Europe.
In 2023, authorities dismantled production facilities across Europe, including 250 for methamphetamine, 93 for amphetamine, 36 for MDMA and 34 for cocaine.
As for cannabis, which is estimated to have been consumed by 24 million European adults in the last year, the Euda warns that related health assessment is “currently complicated” due to the largest variety of available products, including high power extracts and edible products.
Following the European trend, in Portugal the average concentration of THC in cannabis resin almost doubled in the last decade, from about 14% in 2013 to almost 26% in 2023.
“Some products sold on the illicit market such as cannabis can be tampered with with new and potent synthetic cannabinoids, without consumer knowledge,” says the report.
Rapid changes in the European drug market are creating new risks to health and safety and challenging the response capacity of countries, also warns the report based on data from 29 countries (27 EU and Norway and Turkey).
