Bulgaria has been identified as one of the European countries facing the most serious challenges related to fentanyl, according to the 2026 report of the EU Drugs Agency. The annual assessment examines developments in drug consumption, trafficking, production, and related harms across Europe through the end of 2025, highlighting Bulgaria as a particular area of concern.
The report points to the growing spread of fentanyl in the country and its connection to a significant number of fatal overdoses. Data covering 2024 and 2025 show that more than 100 deaths in Bulgaria linked to drug use involved fentanyl. While the first cases of fatalities and hospital admissions were concentrated mainly in Sofia, the problem expanded during 2025, with incidents increasingly reported in other cities across the country.
European experts also note a series of law enforcement operations carried out in 2024 during which Bulgarian authorities seized several kilograms of fentanyl-containing substances. According to the report, the drug is being brought into the country from abroad. The situation is considered especially worrying because the spread of fentanyl is occurring in an environment where harm-reduction services remain limited. The report specifically highlights the absence of home naloxone programs, despite the medication's critical role in reversing opioid overdoses and preventing deaths.
The agency warns that the combination of large fentanyl seizures, the widening geographic reach of the problem, and uncertainties surrounding production sources and trafficking routes creates conditions for a further escalation of the threat, both within Bulgaria and beyond its borders.
Bulgaria is also listed among the countries that recorded the sharpest increase in drug-related deaths during 2024, alongside Germany, the Netherlands, and Turkey. In addition to concerns over fentanyl, the report notes ongoing activity related to the production of synthetic drugs. During 2024, Bulgarian authorities dismantled one laboratory used for amphetamine production and another 18 facilities involved in the manufacture of methamphetamine, underscoring the country's continued role in Europe's fight against synthetic narcotics.
