Meet Nitazene, an opioid 40 times more potent than heroin, discovered in São Paulo

A study carried out by some researchers from the University of São Paulo (USP) and the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) showed that a substance called nitazene became more potent than heroin and fentanyl.

According to some data from the technical-scientific police of São Paulo, which helped in the research, around 95% of the opioids seized from July 2022 to April 2023, in the capital of São Paulo, contained the substance, either in isolation or mixed with other drugs.

Approximately 133 (95%) of the 140 samples contained nitazene, while the remaining 5% contained other opioids.

Nitazene

_{Nitazene was found in drug seizures in the state of São Paulo (Photo: reproduction/Metropolitan Civil Guard/CNN Brazil)}

According to a scientific publication published in June in the journal Forensic Science International: Reports, entitled “Illicit synthetic opioids in Brazil: The arrival of nitazenes”, the substance was made to be sold as a medicine in the 1950s.

However, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the opioid has a high potential to cause overdose in its users, and was never approved. The drug ended up being placed on the market illegally.

Over the years, the substance began to spread around the world. A report released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime states that this increase in demand for the drug was due to the ban on the cultivation of poppies, the plant that produces the opioid used in nitazene, in Afghanistan.

With the ban on poppy cultivation, the production of drugs, such as heroin, fell by around 95% in some places, such as European countries, Canada and the United States.

Today, nitazene can be found in “K” type synthetic drug groups such as K9 and K2.

Opioids, considered as analgesics

_{The substance has a high addictive potential (Photo: reproduction/BBC Geral/Correio Braziliense)}

Nitazene is considered a type of opioid due to its analgesic effect. The poppy plant produces this type of substance that provides this sensation of relief against pain.

Like it, opioids can be found in other drugs and substances such as heroin and fentanyl, which is considered to be up to 50 times stronger than heroin. Nitazene is up to 40 times stronger than fentanyl.

Opioids can also be found in morphines, which are used in hospitals.

Featured photo: opioid, nitazene (Reproduction/DEA.GOV/G1)