DEA urges you to be alert for fentanyl dangers

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is reinforcing its campaign against synthetic opioid abuse by meeting with local police agencies and stressing that “One Pill Can Kill.”

Representatives from the campaign were in Bartholomew County and Jackson County on Wednesday, meeting with sheriff’s deputies and police officers.

The agency is warning residents that as little as two milligrams of fentanyl can be fatal. That amount can fit on the tip of a sharpened pencil.

Fentanyl is frequently diluted by drug dealers with cutting agents and made into counterfeit prescription pills. Those could appear the same as prescriptions for Oxycodone, Percocet, Xanax, or other drugs.

But small variations in the quantity or quality of fentanyl in a dose can lead to fatalities and fentanyl has now become the leading cause of drug poisoning deaths in the United States. 6 out of 10 illegal fentanyl tablets sold contain a potentially lethal dose of the drug.

Fentanyl is about 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.

And authorities say that there are even more deadly synthetic opioids out there, including one called “Pyro” and “M30”. This drug is about 10 times stronger than fentanyl and between 1,000 to 1 ,500 times stronger than morphine.

You can get more information at https://www.dea.gov/onepill

Photos courtesy of Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, Seymour Police Department.