What’s Behind the Rise in Counterfeit Drugs?
What’s Behind the Rise in Counterfeit Drugs?
As people look to obtain pills for either recreational use or to save money on costly prescriptions, counterfeit or “fake drugs” have imploded in recent years on the illegal drug scene. Law enforcement officials and the media have also paid more attention to this growing problem as more people started overdosing and in some cases – dying after they consumed counterfeit pills that they thought were Adderall or Xanax.
The reason behind this increase in deaths is due to lethal substances such as fentanyl being laced into these drugs without the person’s knowledge. While people may think it’s easy to detect counterfeit pills versus real ones, even law enforcement officials often have a hard time identifying the differences. To keep people from engaging in this risky behavior, it’s important to understand the dangers of counterfeit drugs and how one pill can kill.
Updated: 2023
Written by: Allendale Treatment
If you or anyone you know are struggling with addiction, call (833) 338-6946 to speak with a professional.
Counterfeit Drugs Lead to More Overdoses
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), overdose deaths where there was evidence of counterfeit pill use were detected in 2% of fatalities between July and September of 2019. That figure jumped to 4.7% between October and December of 2021. The report comes as drug-related deaths remain at record highs, with the CDC estimating that more than 105,000 people fatally overdosed in 2022 and counterfeit pills were involved in 41.4% of those fatalities.
This jump in overdose-related deaths due to counterfeit pills caused The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to issue a public safety alert in 2021 warning of an uptick in fake prescription pills being sold illegally, many of which contained potentially deadly amounts of fentanyl and methamphetamines. The DEA also reported that 60% of the fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills tested contained a lethal amount of fentanyl.
Commonly faked prescription drugs include
OxyContin
Percocet
Vicodin
Xanax
Adderall
Nate Moellering is a community outreach coordinator at Allendale Treatment and Fort Wayne Recovery and says that he’s seen first-hand the impact counterfeit pills have had in his local community in Fort Wayne, Indiana. “No matter what the substance is you think you’re buying on the street, it could likely be laced with fentanyl or xylazine or some other drug we’re not familiar with,” says Moellering. “As someone who used to struggle with drug addiction, I know several people who have died recently after they purchased counterfeit drugs that were laced with these chemicals.”
Counterfeit pills can cause the following issues:
- Adverse physical side effects including overdoses or death.
- Failure to treat medical conditions or prevent diseases from occurring.
- An increase in local crime in communities throughout the country.
- Households that struggle with money due to job loss or death due to overdoses.
- A strain on local healthcare systems and law enforcement agencies
Trends Emerge Around Fake Pills
In the same report from the CDC, data shows that the majority of deaths from counterfeit pill use were in people under the age of 35, of Hispanic or Latino descent and had misused prescription drugs in the past. Moellering says that counterfeit drugs are also available in powder form or as a gummy, which makes them more appealing to young people who are between the ages of 13 to 15 and are particularly vulnerable to taking counterfeit drugs.
The report also found geographic differences including that fake oxycodone was found frequently in the West whereas fake Xanax was found more in Southern states. Researchers have reported that in Western states alone, overdose deaths from counterfeit pills more than tripled, from 4.7% in 2019 to 14.7% in 2021.
“The police are telling us it’s out there. They use all kinds of technology including a laser they can point at substances and detect what’s in them. But as good as their equipment is, it doesn’t always test positive for what they know is in them.”
“The police are telling us it’s out there. They use all kinds of technology including a laser they can point at substances and detect what’s in them. But as good as their equipment is, it doesn’t always test positive for what they know is in them.”
Nate Moellering
Community Outreach
COVID-19 also played a key role in the surge of counterfeit medicines by impacting the global supply chain which caused borders to close making it harder for pharmaceutical companies to obtain all the materials they needed to produce prescription medications. This allowed for the counterfeit drug market to grow throughout the U.S. as it met gaps in medication shortages.
Protecting Yourself and Loved Ones from Fake Drugs
People who are looking to purchase certain medications online to save costs on their prescriptions should also be aware that they’re potentially putting their lives in danger. Many of these medications come from unreliable sources and could be counterfeit so there’s no way to verify what’s in them. Prescriptions should only be purchased from trusted sources such as a local pharmacy and if people are having trouble paying for their medications, they can research state or pharmaceutical programs they may qualify for as an alternative way to save money.
Tommy Streeter is also a community outreach coordinator for Allendale Treatment and Fort Wayne Recovery and says that he frequently sees people at the detox facility where he works who unknowingly ingested a substance they didn’t know was laced into a pill. “We see people every single day at Allendale who come in because they overdosed on what they thought was Vicodin or Xanax and found out they were, in fact, ingesting fentanyl,” says Streeter.
If parents have pre-teen or teenage children, they need to inform them of the dangers of fake medications. They should also monitor their social media accounts, especially Snapchat and Instagram which are popular platforms that drug dealers use to target adolescents with fake pills. Parents are also encouraged to look into organizations such as Song for Charlie that focus on informing young people of the dangers of counterfeit drugs.
When in doubt Moellering says it’s best to assume that a pill from an unreliable source isn’t safe. “Some of these deaths are from first-time users. They may have never taken a counterfeit pill before or think it’s a real pill because someone told them they got them from a pharmacy but instead, they got them from a drug dealer who made them in their basement.”
If you or anyone you know are struggling with addiction, call (833) 338-6946 to speak with a professional.
