In high school, Ashley Delgado aspired to become a doctor and dreamed of gifting her father a Rolls-Royce. “She wanted to heal people,” recalled her father, James Taylor. Ashley excelled academically, particularly in science and Latin, achieving a high GPA.
In her mid-20s, Ashley sustained a leg injury and was prescribed OxyContin, which initiated a yearslong battle with addiction, shifting from prescription opioids to methamphetamine, heroin, and eventually fentanyl.
Supported by her family, Ashley entered a rehabilitation facility in Cleveland and later transitioned to a sober living home. Tragically, in early summer 2023, she was found deceased on a dead-end street near the city. One sandal was absent, and a folded scrap of paper with a tan powder was discovered in her bra. She was 29.
“I have lost my father, my grandmother — that hurts,” Taylor said. “But when you lose your child, that’s the worst thing on the planet, because they’re not supposed to go before you.”
Toxicology tests later revealed a combination of substances in Ashley’s system, including protonitazene and metonitazene, potent synthetic opioids from the nitazene class. Her death was deemed accidental.
Before Ashley’s overdose, Taylor was unfamiliar with nitazenes. However, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated a sharp rise in overdose deaths involving these drugs in the U.S., increasing from 27 in 2020 to 409 in 2024. Initially developed in the 1950s as potential painkillers, nitazenes never became commercially available due to safety concerns. Taylor was stunned to discover they could be up to 40 times more potent than fentanyl and 500 times stronger than heroin.
Nitazenes are mainly sold online, both on visible and hidden web platforms, often mixed into other drugs to enhance their potency. This practice poses significant risks to users seeking more common substances like oxycodone, fentanyl, or stimulants such as cocaine, potentially leading to fatal overdoses.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) began monitoring nitazene-related seizures around 2014, but significant increases were not observed until 2019. Since then, federal agencies have classified numerous nitazenes as illegal, initiated undercover operations, filed charges, and imposed tariffs on China, which hosts many laboratories producing and supplying nitazenes and fentanyl.
Data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) showed that the United States has identified 26 different types of nitazenes since 2019, ranking second globally after Canada. Over 1,100 fatalities have been confirmed through the CDC’s State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS), though experts estimate the actual number of deaths could be as high as 2,000.
Alex Krotulski, director of the Center for Forensic Science Research & Education in Pennsylvania, explained that deaths are underreported because nitazenes are not routinely tested. “Limited forensic toxicology labs test for nitazenes, so if a nitazene was present and the lab didn’t test for it, the number wouldn’t appear in SUDORS,” he stated. “Also, for labs that do test for nitazenes, they have missed cases prior to their testing.” The most recent CDC data, from 2023 and 2024, indicated these were the deadliest years, with 747 confirmed deaths.
In a comprehensive open-source investigation, Bellingcat examined numerous criminal court proceedings, submitted freedom of information requests at various governmental levels, and reviewed medical examiner reports to provide a detailed account of how nitazenes are entering the U.S. and impacting lives.
The investigation revealed that despite measures to control their spread, nitazenes continue to proliferate online. It also highlighted that by the time nitazenes reach U.S. users, they are frequently mixed with other drugs, including methamphetamines, cocaine, and notably, fentanyl.
As of this year, 48 out of 50 states have reported nitazene seizures.
Less fentanyl, more nitazenes
Fentanyl remains the leading cause of opioid-related deaths in the U.S., with more than a quarter of a million deaths since 2021 and around 200 fatalities daily. However, experts caution that nitazenes can be even more potent, and their combination with fentanyl and other drugs results in increasingly deadly mixtures.
“We’re always concerned about fentanyl being mixed in with other drugs — cocaine, meth, heroin,” stated Frank Tarentino, associate chief of operations for the DEA’s northeast region. “Adding nitazenes makes it exponentially more dangerous and frightening for drug law enforcement, parents, caregivers, educators, and the young.”
Data from the DEA’s National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS) show a sharp increase in reports of nitazene seizures — from 43 positive tests in 2019 to nearly 2,000 in 2024. As of March this year, over 8,000 nitazene reports have been recorded since 2019. However, experts note that not all laboratories can test for nitazenes, which come in various forms such as powders, pills, and sprays, and many do not feed into the NFLIS system, indicating these figures are likely underestimated.
A state-by-state breakdown of nitazene reports shows that Ohio, Ashley Delgado’s home state, is particularly affected. NFLIS data from 2019 to 2024 reveals that more than a third of all positive nitazene laboratory reports nationwide are linked to Ohio.
Separate data from the CDC indicate that Ohio has also recorded the highest number of nitazene-related overdose deaths since 2021. In 2020, there were only four fatalities associated with the drug; by 2021, this number had increased to 90. Between 2022 and 2024, there were another 200 deaths according to government data.
Two years ago, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine issued executive orders to schedule nine different nitazenes and authorized the use of tools to test for drugs, including nitazenes.
There is still no complete understanding of why Ohio is so affected. “Ohio’s geography has long been a suspected contributing factor,” noted Erin Reed, director of RecoveryOhio, a statewide initiative coordinating Ohio’s response to addiction. The organization referenced a 2001 article highlighting Ohio’s unique geographic and infrastructural features — including extensive land, air, and sea transportation networks — as essential reasons for the state’s role as a hub for drug trafficking.
Local groups such as Harm Reduction Ohio advocate for expanded drug-checking services, education, and greater access to testing strips and lifesaving medications like naloxone, which reverses opioid overdoses. “People are going to use drugs,” said AmandaLynn Reese, the organization’s chief program officer. “We don’t know the supply, but those are ways you can engage in your drug use to increase safety and reduce harm.”
Dealer’s choice
Bellingcat obtained medical examiner reports from Ohio’s Cuyahoga County for all nitazene-related deaths in 2023 and 2024, providing insight into drug consumption patterns. The autopsy records revealed that 45 individuals — 31 men and 14 women aged 29 to 72 — died after using nitazenes over this two-year period. Among them were university graduates, former athletes, an Army veteran, an ironworker, and an addiction counselor.
Just before Christmas in 2024, a young man from Cleveland died after consuming drugs that included etonitazene. A few weeks earlier, the body of an elderly woman was discovered in her home after ingesting substances containing metonitazene and protonitazene. That summer, a mother in her 30s with two children took a similar lethal mix. All but one of the 45 deaths were ruled accidental.
In each case, nitazenes were detected alongside fentanyl, often mixed with other drugs like heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and benzodiazepines. According to the DEA’s Tarentino, dealers frequently blend nitazenes with other drugs to enhance their potency and addictiveness, providing them with a competitive advantage.
“It becomes a brand,” he remarked. “The unfortunate circumstance that we find ourselves in is that the dealer’s choice becomes a deadly decision.” These mixtures are not only dangerous but also highly profitable.
Court records analyzed by Bellingcat indicate that nitazenes have been sold at prices ranging from approximately $4,000 to $12,000 per kilogram. However, Tarentino mentioned that the DEA’s internal estimate places $12,000 at the lower end, with prices reaching as high as $40,000. Due to their potency, even small amounts can be diluted into hundreds of thousands — or potentially millions — of doses once mixed and pressed into pills. “A little bit can go a long way,” Tarentino said, “and they can make a lot of money.”
A Freedom of Information Act request to U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealed that in 2024 and 2025 — the only years during which the agency separately tracked nitazenes — 41 shipments of the drug were intercepted. The data show that most of these shipments arrived by mail, primarily from mainland China, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom, with quantities ranging from less than 1 gram to nearly 700 grams.
However, that is not always the case. An analysis of federal court records linked to nitazene prosecutions indicates that approximately 90 kilograms of material containing nitazenes in various forms (powder and pills) have been seized over the past three years. Nearly two-thirds of that amount, about 60 kilograms, stem from a single case.
In this case, prosecutors allege that Valkar Singh drove a blue Maserati from Canada into the United States, carrying six industrial-sized buckets containing over 100,000 pills with isotonitazene. According to court documents, Singh transported the drugs to a Bronx, New York address, where he was apprehended by undercover law enforcement officers.
Tarentino, familiar with the Singh case but unable to comment specifically, noted significant efforts to prevent drug smuggling across the Canadian border. “Canada has become a major concern, but also a major partner in trying to stop the synthetic opioids that are coming into the United States,” he explained.
Lawyers for Singh, who has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, declined to comment.
The scale of the alleged seizure makes this case an anomaly. Among the 46 federal cases identified by Bellingcat from 2021 to 2025, the next largest nitazene seizure was roughly 9 kilograms.
“It’s very large,” remarked Jared Brown, scientific affairs officer at the UNODC. “One hundred thousand pills is probably at the limit of what we hear about in terms of maximum types of quantities that get seized.”
The evidence suggests that most buyers are individual dealers purchasing relatively small quantities online rather than organized criminal groups. “It’s street-level or mid-level dealers [in the U.S.] that are introducing the nitazenes into the drug supply, not the big drug traffickers,” observed Philip Berry, a visiting senior lecturer at King’s College London who previously worked in counter-narcotics at the U.K. Home Office.
Court documents demonstrate that buyers can easily locate nitazene suppliers online, either on dark web marketplaces, standalone chemical supplier websites, or even on social media platforms. Suppliers often advertise the drugs by listing their chemical identifier and social media contact details, sometimes featuring an image of a young Asian woman striking a pose.
Buyers, often individual dealers, contact sales representatives via encrypted channels and negotiate a deal. In these exchanges, representatives occasionally reveal how they claim to evade customs, such as by declaring the product as cosmetics or electronic accessories.
An illustrative account of this modus operandi comes from the 2023 case against Will Catis in Florida — the state with the second-highest number of confirmed nitazene reports. Court documents reveal that a basic internet search led Catis to multiple nitazene advertisements listed by Jiangsu Bangdeya New Material Technology Co., LTD, a Chinese company sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for selling illicit substances, including fentanyl and protonitazene.
Catis purchased about 4 kilograms of nitazenes from Jiangsu Bangdeya in batches no larger than 500 grams. The drugs were sent via the U.S. Postal Service to Deerfield Beach, Florida. Once received, Catis mixed the nitazenes with other drugs, pressed the substance into a brick, and sold it to other drug traffickers. Catis received a 12-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to possessing and intending to distribute nitazenes.
Another court case from Florida describes a couple living in a converted garage bedroom in Hernando County who bought nitazenes through the mail from Chinese companies they contacted online. Jacob Spinoza and his girlfriend, Veronica Jo Barback, regularly used the drugs and distributed them locally, according to court documents. Both pleaded guilty, with Spinoza receiving a nine-year prison sentence and Barback a three-year sentence.
Another significant case reveals how a man allegedly managed a drug trafficking operation from a prison in Ohio. Investigators said Brian Lumbus Jr. collaborated with a middleman, Giancarlo Miserotti, who contacted drug manufacturers in China to have nitazenes shipped through Italy to bypass customs checks. Once in Ohio, the plan was to distribute the drugs to other states, according to court documents.
Law enforcement agents monitored conversations between Lumbus and other members of the drug network, who expressed concern about the potency of nitazenes. “Man, we got to be careful … somebody died,” Lumbus said in one phone conversation, according to court documents. “Ohhh … it was too strong,” Miserotti responded. “I think the ratio of the pink [metonitazene] was thick.”
Lumbus is awaiting trial. Miserotti was arrested in Italy in 2023 and sentenced to over 13 years in prison.
Arms race
Enforcement efforts have targeted the online marketplace ecosystem. In June 2025, Archetyp Market, a significant dark web platform for drug sales, was dismantled in a coordinated operation involving Europol. U.S. authorities have also indicted several China-based companies and individuals accused of selling nitazenes and related synthetic opioids. Despite these actions, nitazene advertisements persist online, continually adapting to new regulatory environments.
In July 2025, China placed most nitazenes under national control. Both China and the U.S. have tightened regulations, but drug experts warn that manufacturers are already exploiting loopholes by marketing chemically similar synthetic opioids known as “orphines.”
According to Brown from UNODC, orphines are believed to originate from China and are about as potent as fentanyl. “Orphines have just enough of the molecule difference that it isn’t covered by the core definition that China has made,” he explained.
This is not the first instance of Chinese synthetic opioid manufacturers adapting to regulations. In 2019, China banned all fentanyl-related substances, including some major precursors. The number of distinct fentanyl analogs reported to the UNODC subsequently plummeted, while reports of nitazenes quickly increased. Now that China is restricting nitazenes, orphines are on the rise. More than 150 cases involving orphines were reported in the U.S. between 2024 and 2025, mostly in Illinois.
“Always adapting, always changing — we call them ‘shape shifters’,” commented Tarentino. “They’re this global Hydra that are always changing, evolving and adapting to their environment and taking full advantage of all of these different loopholes and vulnerabilities that exist.”
Reporting for this story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism.
Founded in 2014, Bellingcat is an independent collective of researchers, investigators, and citizen journalists that has pioneered the use of open source research methods to investigate a variety of subjects in the public interest.
