'Tragic results.' Police warn of spike in fake prescription pills in Kentucky, U.S.

Sep. 30—There has been an alarming increase in fake prescription pills containing deadly amounts of an opioid called fentanyl, the nation's top drug agency said this week in a rare public-safety alert.

The pills can look like legitimate versions of oxycodone or other drugs, are easily available online and are killing unsuspecting people at an unprecedented rate, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in the advisory.

Kentucky has seen plenty of counterfeit pills, according to police.

"It's very pervasive all over Kentucky, especially Eastern Kentucky," said Vic Brown, executive director of the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area AHIDTA), which helps coordinate efforts to disrupt drug trafficking in dozens of counties in Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia.

Drug users are at risk because they may believe they are taking a pill with one substance such as oxycodone, when in reality is contains enough of another drug to kill them, officials said.

Tests have shown a big increase in the number of counterfeit pills that contain at least two milligrams of fentanyl, which is considered a lethal dose, according to the DEA.

Todd Scott, special agent in charge of the DEA's Kentucky office, said the drug network distributing fake pills has gotten larger.

"These pills have proliferated all across the country, all across our community," Scott said. "We're seeing too many folks get ahold of pills they don't even know are counterfeit, often with tragic results."

Scott said authorities are particularly concerned about the impact on college-age people. The reason is that younger people have a greater familiarity with social media, which is a primary way the fake pills are being distributed.

Traffickers make counterfeirt pills to look like real drugs such as Percocet, Xanax and Adderall.

"The victims here are not looking necessarily for heroin, they're not looking for fentanyl, that's not what they're after. They're after Adderall, Xanax and things like that that have become kind of socialized as acceptable in some campuses and high schools," Scott said.

Tests have shown that two of every five fake pills seized contain a potentially lethal does of fentanyl, DEA administrator Anne Milgram said in the agency's release.

Drug traffickers add substances such as fentanyl or meth to counterfeit pills as filler, to increase profit, or to substitute for the other drugs, police said.

"With the drug dealers, there is no quality control," said Tommy Loving, head of the Bowling Green — Warren County Drug Task Force.

Police forces in the U.S. have seized 9.5 million fake pills in the budget year that ends Thursday, up from 6.8 million the year before and 2.6 million in 2019.

The number of overdose deaths in the county surged by almost 30 percent in 2020, topping more than 93,000. Authorities say fentanyl, the drug found most often in fake pills, played a role in that.

The increase was even worse in Kentucky. The state had at least 1,964 overdose deaths in 2020, according to the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy.

That was 50 percent higher than the 1,316 overdose deaths in 2019. The final number for 2020 could be somewhat higher as late reports come in.

Fayette County was second in the state in the number of fentanyl-related deaths among residents, with 128, and neighboring Madison County was third with 50, the report said.

Fentanyl was detected in more than 70 percent of the overdose deaths in Kentucky and nationally, according to the report.

Police say drug cartels in Mexico are the main source of most of the counterfeit pills and crystal meth in the U.S. Sources in China ship fentanyl to Mexico, where drug rings operate labs.

Traffickers in the U.S., including in Kentucky, also use pill presses to make counterfeit pills.

Loving said police think someone in the Bowling Green region is producing fake pills with a press.

The task force has seized Xanax and oxycodone pills containing fentanyl.

Lt. Corey Doane, supervisor of the narcotics unit at the Lexington Police Department, said it's nearly impossible to identify a fake pill by just looking at it.

People should only take pills prescribed by a legitimate health care provider, police said.

"There is a strong possibility if someone purchases a controlled substance or what they believe to be a controlled substance any other way, the substance can contain chemicals they did not desire to put in their body," Doane said. "This can cause significant health issues or even death."

DEA issued the alert to try to bring attention to the problem. The agency had not issued a similar bulletin since 2015.

The alert did not apply to legitimate drugs prescribed by medical professionals and dispensed by licensed pharmacists. People filling prescriptions at pharmacies can be comfortable that they are safe when used as directed, DEA said.

This story was originally published September 30, 202110:02 AM.

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