European drug authorities have warned that counterfeit prescription medicines containing powerful synthetic opioids are becoming a growing threat across the continent after seizures surged from just 380 tablets in 2022 to more than 50,000 in 2024.
The warning, published in the European Union Drugs Agency's 2026 European Drug Report, centres on counterfeit tablets containing nitazenes, a highly potent class of synthetic opioids linked to fatal overdoses. Many of the pills were designed to resemble prescription medicines such as oxycodone and diazepam.
