Commentary on Bade et al.: Threat of nitazenes and other potent synthetic opioids—Is Europe prepared? Time to respond and to learn
Open accessAbstract
Threat of nitazenes and other potent synthetic opioids-Is Europe prepared?Time to respond and to learn Preparedness to respond to increased access and use of new and potent synthetic opioids requires developing action-oriented monitoring systems capable of combining multiple data sources, performing analytical triangulation, and the generation of timely alerts.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) collectively accounted for approximately 75% of novel synthetic opioid adulterant seizures reported to the EUDA, including nitazenes and carfentanil.
“particularly the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), which collectively accounted for approximately 75% of novel synthetic opioid adulterant seizures reported to the EUDA, including nitazenes and carfentanil [29, 30, 31, 32].”
From Temporal and geographical patterns of nitazene detections in drug samples and biospecimens in the United States, 2019–2024 (2026) · cites this paper as [30]
The Abstract reports nitazene detections in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and discusses EUDA seizure data. It does not say that the three countries accounted for approximately 75% of reported novel synthetic opioid adulterant seizures, or identify carfentanil in that figure. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSimilar patterns of nitazene-involved overdose deaths have been observed internationally, particularly in Northern Europe.
“Similar patterns have been observed internationally, particularly in Northern Europe [29, 30].”
From Temporal and geographical patterns of nitazene detections in drug samples and biospecimens in the United States, 2019–2024 (2026) · cites this paper as [30]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Nitazenes—Heralding a Second Wave for the UK Drug-Related Death Crisis?
Holland, A., Copeland, C. S., Shorter, G. W., Connolly, D. J., Wiseman, A., Mooney, J., Fenton, K., & Harris, M. (2024) · The Lancet Public Health · doi:10.1016/s2468-2667(24)00001-x · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Nitazenes represent a growing threat to public health in Europe
Giraudon, I., Abel-Ollo, K., Vanaga-Arāja, D., Heudtlass, P., & Griffiths, P. (2024) · The Lancet Public Health · doi:10.1016/s2468-2667(24)00024-0 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Self-citationBade, R., Nadarajan, D., Hall, W., Brown, J. A., NPS Wastewater Consortium, & Schumann, J. (2025) · Addiction · doi:10.1111/add.70027 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Killeen, N., Lakes, R., Webster, M., Killoran, S., McNamara, S., Kavanagh, P., Eagleton, M., McCormack, S., Micheau, E., Moughty, A., et al. (2024) · Addiction · doi:10.1111/add.16525 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Isotonitazene, a synthetic opioid from an emerging family: The nitazenes
Bendjilali-Sabiani, J.-J., Eiden, C., Lestienne, M., Cherki, S., Gautre, D., den Broek, T. V., Mathieu, O., & Peyrière, H. (2024) · Therapies · doi:10.1016/j.therap.2024.05.004 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Mammoliti, E., Nielsen, S., & Roxburgh, A. (2026) · Drug and Alcohol Review · doi:10.1111/dar.14079 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Bretteville‐Jensen, A. L., Amundsen, E. J., & Mounteney, J. (2022) · European Addiction Research · doi:10.1159/000526144 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Self-citationFischer, B., Jutras‐Aswad, D., Foll, B. L., & Robinson, T. (2025) · SUCHT - Zeitschrift für Wissenschaft und Praxis / Journal of Addiction Research and Practice · doi:10.1024/0939-5911/a000930 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Zhu, D. T., Fitzgerald, N. D., Palamar, J. J., & Krotulski, A. J. (2026) · Addiction · doi:10.1111/add.70378 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“Similar patterns have been observed internationally, particularly in Northern Europe [29, 30].”
- Authors
- Giraudon, I., Gallegos, A., Handanagić, S., & Mounteney, J.
- Affiliations
- Substance Use, Harms and Responses Unit European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) Lisbon Portugal
- Corresponding author
- Giraudon, Isabelle
- Venue
- Addiction
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2025-07-17
- Volume
- 120
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1747-1748
- ISSN
- 0965-2140 (ISSN-L)
- 1360-0443
- OpenAlex
- W4412493179
- Cited by
- 0
- References
- 8
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Addiction (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Toxicology › Forensic Toxicology and Drug Analysis
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Keywords
- nitazenes, synthetic opioids, drug alerts
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
