Overview
- Researchers from King’s College London report in Clinical Toxicology that only about 14% of nitazene present at overdose remains detectable after a typical month-long UK analysis delay.
- They estimate actual nitazene-related deaths are roughly one third higher than official figures because routine post-mortem testing often misses the rapidly degrading compounds.
- The EU Drugs Agency says about half of the nearly 50 new substances notified in 2024 across the EU were nitazenes, reflecting a sharp market expansion over seven years.
- The UK’s National Crime Agency recorded more than 330 nitazene-linked deaths in 2024, with many victims reported to be very young.
- In Germany, toxicology was performed in only 40% of drug deaths in 2024; authorities logged 32 deaths involving synthetic opioids, including nine with nitazenes, while frequent polydrug use (about 80% of cases) complicates cause-of-death attribution.