Highly potent synthetic opioids are emerging as a growing concern in Europe's illegal drug market, according to a new report from the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA), and young people are increasingly involved in their transportation and distribution.
Drawing on data from the EU's 27 member states plus Norway and Turkey, the Lisbon-based EUDA found that at least 50 new psychoactive substances were identified in Europe in 2025.
In particular, the report highlighted the growing risk posed by nitazenes, substances found in common street drugs such as cocaine, heroin and ketamine.Norway's growing ketamine drug problemTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Europe's illegal drugs market
"Drug markets are evolving at speed, with the variety of substances on Europe's streets becoming ever more unpredictable," warned the agency's Executive Director Lorraine Nolan.
