A little-known synthetic opioid more powerful than fentanyl is driving a surge in overdose deaths across North America, according to Fox News.
The drug, part of a class called nitazenes, was originally developed in the 1950s as a pain reliever but was never approved for use due to its extreme potency. Now, it’s quietly infiltrating the illicit drug market — and experts are sounding the alarm.
“Nitazene use is a growing trend in North America and… availability is likely spreading across the Americas,” according to a report from the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD).
The most common variant, isotonitazene (ISO), is already listed as a Schedule 1 drug by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) — along with seven other nitazenes. These drugs are synthetic, cheap to make, and up to 10 times more potent than fentanyl, making them a nightmare for first responders and public health officials alike.
“Nitazenes are being produced in illicit labs overseas, mostly in places like China and India, and are getting trafficked into the U.S. through the same channels used for fentanyl,” said Corey Gamberg, a licensed counselor and executive director at the Massachusetts Center for Addiction, in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Gamberg explained that traffickers are always one step ahead: “As authorities crack down on fentanyl, traffickers pivot to new synthetic opioids like nitazenes to get around enforcement… These drugs are cheap to make and easy to move. It’s a pattern we’ve seen before, and it’s repeating itself now.”
Nitazenes can be found in pills, powders, sprays, and more. They can be snorted, smoked, injected, or taken orally — and in many cases, users don’t even know they’re taking them.
“Nitazenes are often mixed into heroin, pressed pills or even stimulants — so someone might think they’re using one thing and end up taking something completely different,” Gamberg warned. “That unpredictability is what makes them so deadly.”
Dr. Jonathan Avery, vice chair of addiction psychiatry at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, confirmed the drug’s staggering potency. Nitazenes can be “hundreds of times stronger than morphine and up to 10 times more potent than fentanyl, making even tiny doses deadly.”
But detecting the drug is another issue entirely.
Dr. Ryan Marino, a medical toxicologist at Case Western University, explained: “Test strips are available that can help people screen things like powdered drugs and pills for the presence of nitazenes, but more definitive testing is limited to more advanced toxicology labs, and also limited by cost and turnaround time.”
Even routine hospital and workplace drug screens can’t reliably detect nitazenes. “Enforcement is difficult because producers constantly tweak chemical structures to evade laws and standard tests,” said Avery.
The effects of nitazene exposure range from dependency, vomiting, and dizziness to seizures, cardiac arrest, and death, according to CICAD. And while naloxone (Narcan) can reverse nitazene overdoses, multiple doses may be needed due to the drug’s high potency.
“Public awareness, widespread naloxone distribution and rapid drug‑checking are key to preventing deaths,” Avery emphasized.
As overdose deaths mount, experts are calling for specialized testing, real-time drug monitoring, and public alerts to get ahead of what could become America’s next deadly opioid crisis — one even more dangerous than fentanyl.
