The US federal Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA yesterday Wednesday warned against a wave of massive drug overdoses containing lethal doses of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that kills a frighteningly high number of addicts in the United States.
In a letter to law enforcement forces across the country, the DEA cited seven cases since January in which several people overdosed in the same geographic area after unknowingly consuming drugs containing the opioid.
"For the past two months, there have been at least seven confirmed cases of mass overdoses in the United States," with a total of "58 overdoses and 29 deaths," it explained. Many of the victims "thought they were consuming cocaine, they had no idea they were using fentanyl," an opioid considered 30 to 50 times stronger than heroin and 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine, the agency continued.
In a neighborhood of the Washington, D.C., capital, ten people overdosed on January 28: they consumed crack cocaine, a derivative of cocaine, mixed with fentanyl. Nine died. On 4 March, 21 people overdosed and three died after using crack cocaine and methamphetamines containing the same opioid at a homeless shelter in Austin, Texas. Similar incidents have been reported in Florida, Colorado, Nebraska and Missouri.
"Fentanyl is highly addictive, is available in all 50 states and drug traffickers are increasingly mixing it with other drugs - in powder or pill form - to increase addiction and attract a regular clientele," the DEA points out.
According to the agency, fentanyl is contained in several pill imitations of OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin, powerful painkillers popular among addicts. This synthetic opioid, easy to manufacture, deadly even in very small doses, as well as other synthetic substances, were detected in the bodies of two-thirds of the approximately 105,000 overdose deaths between October 2020 and October 2021, the agency highlights. The DEA advises law enforcement agencies across the country to assume fentanyl is being trafficked in virtually all drug trafficking cases they handle.
Source: CNA
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