WASHINGTON (AP) – The number is increasing Counterfeit prescription pills Drugs containing the potentially deadly fentanyl are helping to record overdoses in the U.S., including some now made to look like rainbow-colored candy, federal officials said Tuesday.
Drug Enforcement Administration agents are working to crack down on drug cartels believed to be smuggling the drug into the United States, according to Attorney General Merrick Garland. Between May and September, the DEA and state police said they seized more than 10 million fentanyl pills and hundreds of pounds of the powder.
More powerful synthetic drugs like fentanyl have been used by U.S. law enforcement officials as they struggle to deal with the growing number of drugs in urban and rural communities. The global coronavirus pandemic has eclipsed America’s opioid epidemic, but when Over 100,000 overdose deaths In the 12-month period ending in April 2021, he returned to the public consciousness.
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“I’ve read a lot of reports, including a lot of young people who, after taking just one pill laced with fentanyl, often end up dying like something else,” Garland said.
First reported in February, the Rainbow pills They are now being held in 21 states, said DEA Administrator Ann Milgram. While fentanyl still looks like oxycodone or another prescription drug, rainbow pills are on the rise.
“We believe it’s being marketed and targeted at young people,” Milgram said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer issued the warning this weekend as the DNI announced new funding to fight the drug’s growing spread in New York City and Long Island.
Two Mexican drug cartels are responsible for most of the fentanyl in the United States, federal officials say. The Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco’s New Generation Cartel buy primary chemicals from China, then ship them to the United States, sometimes selling them on social media platforms.
Over the past four months, authorities have investigated nearly 400 cases, 51 of which were overdoses and 35 of which were directly related to the two cartons. According to Milgram, in addition to being loaded into fake pills, fentanyl powder is also transferred to other drugs such as cocaine and heroin.
“Our main operational priority has been and will continue to be defeating these two cartels,” she said.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin, and even a small amount can be fatal. Counterfeit prescription pills are especially dangerous because it’s hard to tell how strong they are.
About 2/3 of all deaths in the US are related to overdoses from fentanyl or other powerful illicit synthetic opioids.
Jonathan Cowkins, a professor of operations research and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, said: Synthesis with law enforcement It’s challenging because the drug can be made in a lab anywhere, rather than being produced in fields like cocaine or heroin—and because it’s so powerful and sold in such small quantities.
“How is law enforcement supposed to get a few metric tons in an economy that trades megatons of raw materials?” Caulkins asked.
Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
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