Fentanyl seized by law enforcement doubled in 2016, DEA says

http://www.wlwt.com/article/fentanyl-seized-by-law-enforcement-doubled-in-2016-dea-says/9886466

The United States is seeing a dramatic increase in drugs containing fentanyl, newly released data from the Drug Enforcement Administration shows.

The National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS), a program of the DEA, points to a drastic surge of lab submissions that tested positive for fentanyl — going from 15,209 in 2015 to 31,700 in 2016.

In addition, lab testing of fentanyl analogues — drugs with close structural resemblance and similar effects to fentanyl — went from 2,230 in 2015 to 4,782 in 2016.

“Drug use today has become a game of Russian roulette. There’s no such thing as a safe batch, this is the opioid crisis at its worst,” DEA spokesman Rusty Payne told CNN.

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid typically prescribed to treat patients with severe pain, is approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more powerful than morphine, according to the NFLIS.

Last year, the country lost more than 52,000 Americans to drug overdose — more than 33,000 of those from opioids, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. It means more people die from opioid-related causes than from gun homicides and traffic fatalities — combined, the DEA states.

Fentanyl reports remained fairly steady between 2003-2013, until sharp increases occurred beginning in 2014 through 2016, particularly noticeable in the Northeast and Midwest.

“Drug addicts know they are taking fentanyl at times, and know it can kill them, but are willing to take the risk,” Payne said, adding that Chinese labs that manufacture the substances are trying to stay ahead of law enforcement using chemistry advances, tweaking the chemical structure to create a slightly different analogue.

Payne also pointed at “a tremendous opioid demand in this country” that pushes Mexican drug cartels to add pure fentanyl to heroin batches, creating hundreds of thousands of dosage units. According to DEA reports, Mexico continues to supply up to 85-90% of the domestic heroin market.

The DEA is working hard on education, enforcement and prevention to battle the crisis, Payne said, but added it is a vicious cycle that is eventually up to the community to end. “The next generation has to be better. We need to make sure people don’t ever start,” he said.

It has been reported that the DEA will admit that they are only able to seize/confiscate about 4% of illegal drugs that get to our streets. With the increased seizures of the various analogs of Fentanyl & Heroin .. just how many more KILOGRAMS that are getting to the street.

33,000 deaths from opiates … no mention of the 100,000 – THREE TIMES that die from the use/abuse of Alcohol, which increased about 20% from 2015 to 2016. Nor the FOURTEEN TIMES (450,000 ) the deaths from the use/abuse Nicotine.

Two DRUGS…and as how the DEA puts it “with no valid medical use” and those two drugs killing 550,000 every year .. like SIX COMMERCIAL AIRLINERS falling out of the sky EVERYDAY… killing all on board.

Unless someone dies from a “alcohol related” traffic accident.. all of those other alcohol related deaths you will only see it in the obit columns in the local paper with no reference to ALCOHOL .. NO national media, NO breaking news on TV.. As they say in the news industry… “.. if it BLEEDS… it LEADS …”

Filed under: General Problems