PORTLAND, Ore. — For the first time in six years, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has issued a public safety alert. Fake prescription drugs containing fentanyl are available at an alarming rate.
"We have a fentanyl explosion," said Cam Strahm, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in the District of Oregon. "Every avenue you can think of is how fentanyl is getting here."
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid significantly stronger than morphine. It is manufactured and tableted out of the state or country, then trafficked back into the community.
"It could be a blue tablet," Strahm said. "It could be a yellow tablet. It could be an oblong white tablet. We're finding fentanyl mixed into counterfeit tablets of all shapes and sizes and colors."
Over the last year, the DEA Seattle Field Division, that includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska, has seen a 275% increase in seizures of counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl.
"Demand drives supply so that's a component of it," Strahm said. "Because the drug trafficking organizations are preying on the weak and addicted, or addicted, or weak, or naive— the market, the region has been flooded with these fentanyl tabs."
In the last couple of weeks alone, KGW has learned of several drug busts involving fake pills containing fentanyl:
- November 2: Clark County Sheriff's Office announced the arrest of two people, after deputies seized 11,000 pills worth more than $100,000 on May 5
- October 31: pills were seized during a traffic stop on Interstate 5 in Lane County
- October 28: 150 counterfeit pills seized at a Southeast Portland apartment
As shocking as that may be, there is nothing more disturbing than the news coming out of Klamath County. Investigators there said fentanyl is to blame for the death of an 18-month-old girl over the summer. The mother is now in jail.
"It's terrifying," Strahm said.
According to Strahm, fentanyl is no joke. It must be avoided at all costs.
"If you're seeking pain relief and you're going the route of opioids, you need to go see a physician," Strahm said. "You need to get whatever your pain relief is, you need to get it from a doctor or pharmacist, not off the street. Getting it off the street exposes you to all kinds of variables that lead to one pill can kill."