Drug cartels are highly utilizing social media and encrypted communication platforms, according to a Fentanyl Awareness Day message from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The DEA says that the cartels advertise pills and powders as legitimate medications or other substances, but they contain fentanyl.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Just two milligrams, the equivalent of a few grains of salt, is a potentially lethal dose. DEA agents continue to see fentanyl in fake pills made to look like prescription medications, including oxycodone (Percocet®), alprazolam (Xanax®) and hydrocodone (Vicodin®). The DEA warns that the only safe medications come from licensed and accredited medical professionals.
“Fentanyl is the greatest drug threat facing the United States as drug-related overdoses remain the leading cause of death among Americans ages 18-44,” the DEA said in the message.
More than 105,000 Americans died from drug poisonings in 2023, with nearly 70 percent of those deaths attributed to synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Countless families across the nation sit down at dinner each night with an empty chair at the table,” DEA Omaha Division Acting Special Agent in Charge Rafael Mattei said. “A loved one was taken too soon by a substance so potent and yet so small, it can fit on the tip of a pencil. National Fentanyl Awareness Day provides us with a time to sound the alarm once again to the dangers of this drug.”
