Illegal drugs remain a dangerous and deadly issue in United States

It’s a good bet that illicit drugs won’t be disappearing from America’s top list of problems anytime soon.

That was a pretty straightforward conclusion after reading a recent News Herald story.

The article highlighted two points that showed that illegal trade is still going strong in America.

First, The Drug Enforcement Agency issued a public safety warning on Sept. 27, warning of an “alarming rise in the lethality and availability of counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine.”

The federal agency said the counterfeit pills had been seized by agents in unprecedented quantities in every US state. According to the DEA, more than 9.5 million tablets have been seized this year, more than in the two previous years combined.

The agency’s laboratory tests show a “dramatic increase in the number of counterfeit pills containing at least 2 milligrams of fentanyl, which is considered a lethal dose”. According to the agency, a lethal dose of fentanyl is small enough to fit on the tip of a pencil.

The DEA stated that the counterfeit pills are made illegally by criminal drug networks and look like real opioid drugs like OxyContin, Percocet, and Vicodin. They’re also camouflaged to look like other prescription drugs like Xanax and Adderall.

“The United States faces an unprecedented crisis of overdose deaths caused by illegally manufactured fentanyl and methamphetamine,” DEA administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement. “Counterfeit pills containing these dangerous and extremely addicting drugs are more deadly and accessible than ever. In fact, DEA laboratory analysis shows that two out of five counterfeit pills containing fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose.

“DEA is focusing its resources on eliminating the violent drug traffickers who do the most harm and pose the greatest threat to the safety and health of Americans. Today we are warning the public of this danger so that people have the information they need to protect themselves and their children. “

The DEA claims that the vast majority of counterfeit pills imported into the United States are made in Mexico and chemical supplies to make fentanyl come from China.

Lake County has seen fake pills for a number of years. In 2019, Doug Rohde, then director of chemistry and toxicology for the Lake County Crime Lab, warned of a surge after the lab processed more than 250 counterfeit oxycodone tablets in February. Some of the pills in this particular case only contained fentanyl. Some contained fentanyl with the strong synthetic opioid analogues.

DEA Detroit Division special agent Keith Martin said his office confiscated hundreds of thousands of counterfeit pills last summer alone. Martin’s office oversees DEA operations in Ohio, Michigan, and northern Kentucky

“Particularly alarming is how these pills are often marketed and packaged as legitimate prescription drugs,” Martin said in a statement. “To the naked eye, they appear to be the same pill you would get at a local pharmacy, although in fact they often contain lethal doses of fentanyl.”

The DEA stated that the only safe drugs are those prescribed by a “trusted medical professional” and dispensed by a licensed pharmacist.

“Any pills that don’t meet this standard are unsafe and potentially fatal,” the agency said.

A separate note reported in the story that the opioid epidemic has continued amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that more than 93,000 people died of drug overdoses in the United States in 2020. That’s a record number, up 29.4 percent from 2019. Deaths from drug overdoses rose in all states except New Hampshire and South Dakota in 2020, according to the CDC.

These two messages remind us that illicit drugs are likely to continue to be a dangerous and deadly problem in America.

For all those people trying to reverse this trend – police officers and agents, health professionals, counselors and educators, to name a few examples – we applaud your efforts and urge you to continue fighting for the good fight.