(Air1 Closer Look) – Overdose deaths by fentanyl are down for the first time in the U.S. since the COVID-19 pandemic, but the potentially lethal anesthetic still threatens unsuspecting online buyers. In 2024, the U.S. DEA seized more than 367 million deadly doses of cheap and easy counterfeit medicine, after nabbing 390 million deadly doses the previous year. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials are on the frontlines of the illegal flow, noting “fentanyl is extremely potent and incredibly dangerous. Just 2 milligrams – the size of a few grains of sand – can lead to an overdose.”
Improved border security is a clear focus for addiction and overdose prevention, says Sgt. Daniel Webb, a fentanyl expert who worked on the California-Mexico border -- but adds only buyer awareness can ultimately prevent tragedy.
“These kids are trying one pill and a lot of times, if it's not the first one maybe it's the second one -- they go ‘oh well hey that helped me’ and then – boom - next one kills them.”
Most of us think overdose deaths occur out on dark city streets, but an increasing number happen in America’s quiet suburban homes. “Mainly children,” Webb says, “but there is elderly too that are being affected, that are buying pills online that they think are something else.”
Drug cartels have pill presses that mimic the look of Xanax, Adderall even Grandma’s blood pressure medicine, carelessly mixing corn starch with untold amounts of fentanyl per pill. Users are effectively tricked into playing chemical Russian Roulette.
Why would drug dealers risk killing customers by loading pills with fentanyl?
“Well, by the time it reaches anywhere,” Webb explains, “pretty much the drug has already changed hands anywhere from five to 10 times -- they've already been paid. They don't care.”
Angela Webb, CEO of Arrive Alive California holds workshops and town halls at schools to educate children and parents on the dangers of fake prescription drugs. Her team invites crime lab scientists, EMTs, fire captains and police chiefs to warn kids against ordering “medicines” online like they order food from Door Dash.
“It is now being put into gummies and vape pens,” she warns, noting that seven out of ten of online pills marketed as meds test positive for fentanyl. The risk is enormous. “All of us need to pull together and spread the word of what’s really going on.”
And while statistics show most kids they talk to are unlikely to try drugs themselves, she knows the epidemic of teen depression and anxiety guarantees they know someone who will.
"Your friend might come to you and say, ‘I'm really struggling and I just saw this menu pop up on Snapchat or TikTok -- or whatever – literally drug menus – ‘and I think I have a bad case of anxiety I'm just going to buy one’ -- and that's why it's so important to get to not only them but their families, to let them know this is not what you're getting -- this is not the real deal.”
