The widespread spread of nitazenes, a powerful synthetic opioid, has largely been behind a tripling in the number of drug overdose deaths in Estonia in recent years, ERR.ee reports. The drug so far has proved much more widely used in all three Baltic states than elsewhere in Europe.
Originally developed in Switzerland as painkillers in the late 1950s, these drugs now contribute to the opioid epidemic in the United States and are seen to be widely abused only in the Baltic states within Europe.
"What's peculiar with nitazenes is that they spread mainly in the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. This is an anomaly that is hard to explain – no one can give a good reason why it's so," said Estonian State Prosecutor Raigo Aas.
Much like fentanyl, nitazenes cause strong and rapid intoxication, but there is one crucial difference between the two – those who have overdosed on nitazenes tend to respond less effectively to life-saving treatment.
In Estonia, 332 people died from drug overdoses between 2021 and 2024, mostly men. Prosecutor Aas attributes the rise in deaths to this new synthetic opioid: "Nitazenes – they cause half of all drug overdose deaths."
Nitazenes enter Estonia as contraband from Latvia, primarily in powder form, but sometimes as a concentrate. The substance itself originates mostly from China or India.
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