The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has claimed that hundreds of thousands of counterfeit pills containing deadly substances have entered the US drug market.
According to a DEA intelligence report released on Friday, July 22, many of the drugs contain fentanyl and fentanyl-related compounds.
Fentanyl is a synthetically produced com pound which, when produced legitimately, is used to treat severe pain or as a tranquiliser.
In the report, called “Counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyls: a global threat,” the DEA said there is currently “high access” to the drug and that there had been more seizures and deaths from overdoses than at any time since the drug was created in 1959.
According to the DEA, overseas laboratories in China are mass-producing the drugs before marketing them to drug trafficking groups in Mexico, Canada and the US.
Traffickers can typically buy a kilogram of fentanyl powder for a few thousand dollars from China and transform it into counterfeit pills for millions of dollars of profit, the DEA said.
The DEA warned that the drug also poses a danger to law enforcement officials and others that deal with the drug, as a lethal amount can be accidentally inhaled or absorbed through the skin.