Bulgaria faces fentanyl surge with over 100 deaths in two years

Bulgaria has recorded at least 118 fentanyl‑related deaths in the past two years, with 53 in 2024 and 65 in 2025, up from just five cases in 2023, according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Crime. The synthetic opioid is extremely potent – as little as two milligrams can be lethal – and is often mixed into heroin, cocaine or other street drugs, causing users to overdose unknowingly.

A kilogram of illicit fentanyl can be cut into up to 100,000 doses and sell for around €12,000, making it attractive to criminal networks. Authorities suspect the supply may come from shipments originating in China or Mexico, or be produced locally using imported chemical precursors. The rise in fentanyl use follows a decline in heroin flowing into Bulgaria after the Taliban banned opium cultivation in Afghanistan, prompting traffickers to substitute with the more powerful synthetic drug.

Health experts and NGOs are urging the government to expand prevention campaigns, increase treatment capacity, and ensure wider availability of naloxone, the antidote that can reverse an overdose when administered promptly.