The rise of fake pills containing fentanyl, a potentially deadly synthetic opioid, is driving overdose death rates to new highs in the United States, federal officials warned Tuesday.
The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is working to crack down on violent drug cartels in Mexico that are believed to be trafficking drugs into the US, the US attorney general said. USA, Merrick Garland.
Between May and September, the DEA and local law enforcement agencies across the country seized more than 10 million fentanyl tablets and hundreds of pounds of powder, it added.
Highly potent synthetic drugs like fentanyl are responsible for new highs in overdose deaths in the US.
The covid-19 pandemic has overshadowed the opioid epidemic in the United States, but when overdose deaths exceeded 100,000 during the 12-month period ending in April 2021, the issue returned to the public consciousness, reports the Associated Press (AP ).
“I read many reports of many cases, including many young people who ended up dying after taking a single pill laced with fentanyl, often disguised as something else,” Garland said.
Some of these fake pills are made in the colors of the rainbow to look like candy.
First reported in February, the rainbow pills have been seized in 21 US states so far, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram explained.
While fentanyl is still predominantly disguised as oxycodone or another prescription drug, rainbow pills are on the rise.
Senate Majority Leader Democrat Chuck Schumer also expressed alarmism this weekend about the drug boom in New York City and Long Island, as he pushed for new funding to combat its spread.
Two Mexican drug cartels are responsible for most of the fentanyl in the United States, according to federal officials.
In the last four months, authorities have investigated some 400 cases, 51 of them linked to drug overdoses and 35 linked directly to the two cartels.
In addition to being compressed into fake pills, fentanyl powder also transfers to other drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, Anne Milgram said.
“Our top operational priority was and will continue to be defeating these two cartels,” he said.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that can be 50 times more powerful than heroin, and even a small amount can be deadly.
About two-thirds of overdose deaths in the US were associated with illicitly produced fentanyl or other strong synthetic opioids.
Jonathan Caulkins, a professor and public policy researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, noted that containing these synthetic drugs with law enforcement is challenging because they can be produced in labs anywhere, rather than grown in fields like cocaine or the heroine
Because it is so potent, it is trafficked in smaller amounts, Caulkins added, arguing that the best way to deal with the fentanyl crisis is to invest money in treatments and increase the availability of naloxone, a drug that reverses overdoses.
Source: TSF
