At the end of 2023, the health crisis caused by fentanyl use in the United States set alarm bells ringing. However, the situation may get even worse with the emergence of another family of synthetic opioids: nitazenes.
This drug is not completely new. In the 1970s chemist Alexander Shulgin warned about the potential abuse of a family of compounds known as benzimidazoles, and half a century later, his words have proven prophetic. Nitazenes – synthetic opioids with a benzimidazole core – have emerged as one of the most dangerous classes of new psychoactive substances, causing a growing number of poisonings and deaths.
