DEA Warns of Fake Prescription Meds Containing Fentanyl After Millions Seized This Year

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has issued a warning regarding the rise in fake prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine, after millions of the pills have been seized this year.

"International and domestic criminal drug networks are mass-producing fake pills, falsely marketing them as legitimate prescription pills, and killing unsuspecting Americans. These counterfeit pills are easy to purchase, widely available, and often contain deadly doses of fentanyl," the DEA said in the public safety alert issued on Monday. "Pills purchased outside of a licensed pharmacy are illegal, dangerous, and potentially lethal."

The DEA said over the past year, it has already seized 9.5 million counterfeit pills, a total higher than the previous two years combined. The DEA noted in the public safety alert that the warning does not apply to "legitimate pharmaceutical medications prescribed by medical professionals and dispensed by licensed pharmacists."

According to the DEA, many of the counterfeit pills seized have contained at least two milligrams of fentanyl, which is considered a "deadly dose" by the DEA.

Since 2019, the number of counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyl has increased by nearly 430 percent, the DEA said.

"DEA laboratory analyses further reveal that today, two out of every five pills with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose," the DEA said. "Additionally, methamphetamine is increasingly being pressed into counterfeit pills."

Citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the public safety alert said that last year, "more than 93,000 people died of drug overdoses in the United States, marking the largest number of drug-related deaths ever recorded in a year," adding that fentanyl has shown to be the "primary driver of this alarming increase in overdose deaths."

According to the DEA, the most common counterfeit pills are designed to look like prescription opioids such as oxycodone, hydrocodone and alprazolam, as well as some stimulants.

In a press release, DEA Administrator, Anne Milgram, said that the nation is experiencing "an unprecedented crisis of overdose deaths fueled by illegally manufactured fentanyl and methamphetamine."

"DEA is focusing resources on taking down the violent drug traffickers causing the greatest harm and posing the greatest threat to the safety and health of Americans. Today, we are alerting the public to this danger so that people have the information they need to protect themselves and their children," Milgram said.

Milgram made similar comments during a recent interview with NBC's Today show, where she said that the distribution of these counterfeit prescription pills is like "Russian roulette, but it's even more dangerous in one sense."

"In Russian roulette, people know that they're passing around a loaded gun. Here, you are talking about many people who think that they are actually buying oxycodone or they're buying Percocet or they're buying Vicodin ... a painkiller," Milgram said while appearing on Today.

Newsweek reached out to the DEA for further comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.