The majority of individuals who died from overdosing on fake prescription medication were under the age of 35, according to the report. It noted that the fake drugs didn’t come from a pharmacy but were instead bought on the street, from friends, or in school.
“Evidence of counterfeit pill use in overdose deaths more than doubled from July–September 2019 to October–December 2021, and tripled in western U.S. states,” the agency said. “Decedents with evidence of counterfeit pill use, compared with those without such evidence, were younger, more often Hispanic or Latino, and more frequently had a history of prescription drug misuse and drug use by smoking.”
Counterfeit drugs often contain illegally manufactured fentanyl, which causes tens of thousands of overdose deaths per year in the United States, as well as illicitly made benzodiazepines, or “other illicit drugs,” which “might expose persons to drugs they did not intend to use,” the agency said.
In total, it found there were more than 54,000 overdose deaths along with evidence of counterfeit drugs, which are made to look like real pharmaceutical pills. It further found that half of the deaths were connected to counterfeit oxycodone, a synthetic opioid that triggered a drug epidemic starting in the early 2000s, and counterfeit alprazolam, commonly sold under the name Xanax.
“Effective overdose prevention messaging would stress that persons should only use legitimate pharmaceutical pills that are prescribed to them, and emphasize that pills obtained illicitly or without a prescription might contain highly potent drugs,” the CDC said.
Drug overdose deaths in the United States hit historic highs in recent years. About 107,000 people died due to drug overdoses in 2021, while the CDC’s preliminary estimates found that about 105,000 died of overdoses in 2022.
“People are pressing pills and even gummies” to make them look like legitimate medications, said Tonja Myles, an addiction expert with Huntsman Mental Health Foundation in Salt Lake City, in an NBC News report.
“People don’t always know what’s in them,” said Julie O’Donnell, an author of the CDC’s latest report, told the outlet. “The risk of overdose is heightened among people who think that they’re using legitimate pharmaceutical pills.”
According to the report, evidence of fake pill use tripled in western states, indicating that fentanyl is “infiltrating drug markets in western U.S. states.” It noted that such drugs have generally been less prevalent in those states due to the “ difficulty mixing with predominantly black tar heroin prevalent in that region.”
Other Details
It comes as the White House announced Wednesday that more than $450 million in funding will be used to deal with drug overdoses in a bid to reduce deaths, invest in information campaigns targeting young Americans, and support drug recovery efforts.The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) issued a recent public alert that about six in 10 fake prescription pills with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose of the powerful synthetic opioid.
“More than half of the fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills being trafficked in communities across the country now contain a potentially deadly dose of fentanyl. This marks a dramatic increase—from four out of ten to six out of ten—in the number of pills that can kill,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram in a release. “These pills are being mass-produced by the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Cartel in Mexico. Never take a pill that wasn’t prescribed directly to you. Never take a pill from a friend. Never take a pill bought on social media. Just one pill is dangerous and one pill can kill.”
