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DEA fighting surge of fake prescription pills
Fake prescription pills are surging online.
CHICAGO - Fake prescription pills are surging online.
Now, the DEA is trying to crack down on the dangerous trend.
It is not just that these pills are counterfeit that makes them dangerous, but the DEA says the real problem is that so many of them are laced with potentially deadly amounts of fentanyl.
For the first time in six years, the DEA has issued a public safety alert. The agency says it is seeing a massive increase in counterfeit prescription opioids coming into the United States — most of it from Mexico — and a shocking amount containing fentanyl.
The DEA has seized more than 9.5-million fake pills this year alone, which is more than the past two years combined.
They say it is all but certain more than 100,000 Americans will die of a drug overdose this year — another record.
The most commonly counterfeited drugs are oxycodone, Percocet and Adderall, and much of it is being trafficked online via social media sites.
"We know that criminal drug networks in Mexico are mass-producing fentanyl. Using chemicals sourced largely from China and pressing it into fake prescription pills, and pushing them as legitimate pills to unsuspecting Americans," said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram.