FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Drug Enforcement Administration’s recent warning at a church in Fort Lauderdale: “Two milligrams of fentanyl powder — enough to fit on the end of a pencil — can be deadly.”
Physicians have used the powerful drug mostly to treat chronic cancer pain. But about a decade ago the synthetic drug took hold of the narcotics dark web black market in the U.S.
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China targeted chemical suppliers after classifying fentanyl as a controlled substance in 2019. But the DEA warns criminal chemists have continued to fuel the deadly drug epidemic.
“These pills look identical to ones provided by a pharmacy,” Mark Skeffington, the DEA Miami field office’s deputy special agent, said during the meeting at the First Baptist Church.
Skeffington later added, “Drug trafficking organizations are using brightly colored pills in an attempt to target young Americans.” The pills are known as “rainbow fentanyl.”
Skeffington also warned about purity problems. Illegal fentanyl sometimes has xylazine, a tranquilizer veterinarians use. Luis Albino, a DEA supervisory intelligence research specialist, said this makes it cheaper.
“It reduces the amount of fentanyl required to make the fake pills,” Albino said in a statement.
While last year, the DEA reported seizing the equivalent of 376 million lethal doses, this year so far the DEA has seized the equivalent of 93 million lethal doses.
It has become a never-ending struggle. Unable to keep the counterfeit pills from making it to South Florida communities, Skeffington said community partnerships are key.
“We can’t reach into schools, communities, and churches as effectively without the partners in this room,” Skeffington said.
The event at the church at 301 East Broward Boulevard was part of the DEA’s preventive “Operation Engage” campaign as an approach to public health and safety nationwide. There were employees of Broward County’s public schools, fire rescue, and law enforcement.
“Partnerships are key,” Skeffington said. “We can’t reach into schools, communities, and churches as effectively without the partners in this room.”
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