Teenager in Dresden died after nitazene consumption – new drug form on the market
The 16-year-old Florentin died in Dresden after consuming isotonitazene, a highly potent opioid. The fatal drug is becoming increasingly widespread on the black market.
Drug death of a teenager from new opioid form
A 16-year-old boy named Florentin died in October 2025 in Dresden after consuming isotonitazene, a new drug form on the German black market. According to mdr.de, the teenager had his final meeting with the dealer at a railway station in Dresden's city centre – a half-hour tram ride from his home.
The teenager had arranged to meet his friends Nico and Daniel to consume drugs. Shortly before the meeting, Florentin telephoned his dealer Anton B. It was supposed to be crystal meth – but this time the teenager wanted to try something stronger. His friends advised against it. "We both didn't know what it was, and we both told Flo, don't do it," Daniel is quoted in the article. Florentin ignored the warning.
Florentin and the dealer met at a secluded spot near the railway station. They first consumed crystal meth together, then they prepared the unknown drug. Florentin paid 45 euros for half a gram of crystal meth; he received the second substance for 20 euros – at a friendship discount.
What the teenager bought was isotonitazene – a highly potent opioid from the nitazene group. The substance is several hundred times stronger than morphine and 90 times more potent than fentanyl. Even on illegal online marketplaces in the darknet, warnings are issued about the effects of this drug. Even the smallest amounts can be fatal, particularly for people without drug tolerance.
With the dangerous drug in his pocket, Florentin returned to his friends. They met in a pavilion on his mother's property – their regular meeting place. Previously they had consumed MDMA, ketamine and LSD there. Upon arriving in the pavilion, Florentin snorted the diluted isotonitazene. "It all happened much too quickly, it was a matter of not even a minute," Daniel recalls.
The teenager became increasingly quiet. Late in the evening he felt unwell and wanted to go home. His friend Nico took him home. "He threw up in front of the front door," Nico recounts. At home, Florentin encountered his mother Xenia L. He confessed to her that he had consumed crystal meth – he concealed his isotonitazene consumption. He went to his room and lay down in bed.
Xenia L. was worried about her son and checked on him. She asked whether there were any more drugs in the house. Florentin answered: "There's nothing left." These were his last words to his mother.
Later, Nico and Daniel checked on their friend. He sat as if absent-minded in front of a video game. "Then we woke him up," Nico recalls. "He looked briefly and wanted to carry on playing, then I told him to lie down." His friends tucked him in. Daniel stayed overnight but did not notice how Florentin's condition deteriorated.
Florentin's problems had begun earlier. At 14 years old, he turned to drugs for the first time. Even during his school years, he was not an easy case: he suffered from Tourette's syndrome and a form of autism. From the sixth form onwards, he could no longer keep up with the school curriculum. "School was hell for him. Because it simply made demands that he couldn't meet like that," his mother explains. Xenia L. tried to have her son taught via the internet from home, but the authorities rejected this.
The pressure on Florentin grew. He chose drugs as a way out. His mother noticed the change: her son became very thin, but made no secret of his drug use. Admission to a rehab clinic was being considered, but Florentin refused point-blank. "We had quite good communication, but ultimately I couldn't prevent it. Because at that age you can't control or confine children like that anymore," says Xenia L.
His older brother Leander, 20 years old, also noticed how much drugs determined his younger brother's everyday life. The spark of life in Florentin seemed to become less and less visible, the light in him darker. The two argued about the subject – but Leander too could not stop his brother from using drugs.
Around 9 o'clock in the morning after the isotonitazene consumption, Xenia L. checked on her son. He was still asleep. "About half an hour to forty-five minutes later I came back and then it was too late. He suddenly had such bluish lips and I immediately called an ambulance," Xenia L. reports. Daniel, who had stayed overnight, woke up and determined: neither pulse nor breath. "I then laid him on the ground with his mum and started resuscitation until the paramedics arrived."
Florentin suffered cardiac arrest. The emergency doctor arrived too late. The 16-year-old died as a result of isotonitazene consumption.
A year later, Florentin's brother Leander spoke to mdr.de about the evening and the history leading up to it. Xenia L. preserves her son's last T-shirt like a treasure. In a book she notes everyday things from Florentin's life – for fear of forgetting these moments over time. "In fact, I still think about nothing else from morning to evening. In my head there is only Florentin," says the mother.
Source: Google News DE — Crime (de)