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According to the CDC, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. It is a major contributing factor to fatal overdoses in the country, however not all of these deaths are related to intentional use.
That is to say, the number of people who have overdosed and died from fake prescription pills has more than doubled in recent yearsreported the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Most of those deaths occurred among people under the age of 35, who were taking what they thought was oxycodone or Xanax, but were fake drugs, mostly laced with fentanyl.
According to the authorities, the medicines obtained did not come from a legitimate pharmacy; they were bought on the street, in the classroom or from friends. Counterfeit pills may look like the real thing, but they are usually made from a variety of unknown ingredients.
The CDC report, released to coincide with International Overdose Awareness Day, which is observed every August 31, found that from mid-2019 to the end of 2021, overdose deaths linked to counterfeit drugs more than doubled, from 2% to 4.7%.
The system is based on information collected from death certificates, forensic reports, toxicology reports, and witness accounts.
Illicit fentanyl was detected in 93% of all overdose deaths from fake pills. More than half of the deaths (57.1%) occurred among people under 35 years of age.
Thus, it is an underdescribed face among drug overdose deaths in the United States, where in 2021, nearly 107,000 people died from drug overdoses. Preliminary estimates for follow a nearly identical trend, according to the CDC.
The report found geographic differences in terms of counterfeit drugs. Fake oxycodone was found more often in the West and fake Xanax was found more often in the South.
It is estimated that each year around 450,000 people die from illegal drug overdoses in the world, a constantly increasing number that generates devastating consequences, although there is little data on those who consumed these substances thinking that they were real medicines. To raise awareness about this reality, every August 31 marks International Overdose Awareness Day.