Fake prescription pills are ravaging American communities
What began in 2015 as an outbreak of counterfeit opioid painkillers and Xanax that contained potentially deadly doses of fentanyl or fentanyl analogues has spread to all 50 states, and has killed residents in all of them.
A tin of counterfeit pills seized in Clarkston, Washington in June 2023. (Quad Cities Drug Task Force)
Illegal pill presses have given drug counterfeiters the ability to adapt.
In 2020, they expanded their offerings with pills mimicking Adderall, Aleve, aspirin and even the diabetes drug metformin, and new, dangerous ingredients such as methamphetamine, isotonitazene, clonazolam and etizolam. The fake pill trade has become such a crisis that in September 2021, the DEA issued a public safety alert to warn Americans about them.
Mexican drug cartels smuggle millions of these pills over the border, but the U.S. also has homegrown traffickers who import ingredients and pill presses from China and manufacture their own deadly pills.
Many organizations have emerged since 2015 to educate the public about these pills and demand changes to protect Americans.
PSM continues to follow this dangerous trend at the policy level, particularly focusing on the regulation of the pill presses that enable the mass counterfeiting of prescription pills.
Counterfeit Medicine Has Cost Many American Lives
Fake pills & social media
In response to many tragic deaths, parents are working to make companies accountable for drug dealers selling counterfeit prescription drugs on social media platforms.
Groups spreading the word
Education
Look here for examples of educational materials aimed at middle school through college age students.
Save lives with naloxone
Naloxone temporarily reverses the effects of opioids. It is available over the counter at U.S. pharmacies, and sometimes community programs distribute it for free.
Learn how to use Narcan, a common brand of naloxone.
Reports, 2016 - 2022
Joseph Friedman, MPH, et al, "Trends in Drug Overdose Deaths Among US Adolescents, January 2010 to June 2021," Journal of the American Medical Association, April 12, 2022.
Provisional Drug Overdose Death Counts, Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Health Statistics, 2021
Drug Enforcement Administration:
- National Drug Threat Assessments: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016
- Public Campaign: One Pill Can Kill
- DEA Issues Warning Over Counterfeit [Adderall] Pills, August 2019
- Drugs Of Abuse: A DEA Resource Guide 2020 Edition
- Counterfeit Prescription Pills Containing Fentanyls: A Global Threat, July 2016
Combatting the Opioid Crisis: Exploiting Vulnerabilities in International Mail (United States Senate, January 2018)
Counterfeit Alprazolam Poses A 'Major Public Health Threat' (Medscape, August 8, 2016)
“Fentanyl And A Novel Synthetic Opioid U-47700 Masquerading As Street ‘Norco’ In Central California: A Case Report” (Annals of Emergency Medicine, July 26, 2016)
Archived PSM resources
Fentanyl and fentanyl pills have transformed the drug landscape since 2015 (January 2022)
Hawaii Becomes Final State To Report A Fake Pill Death (August 2021)
Deadly Counterfeit Pills Found in All 50 U.S. States; Deaths Now Reported in 42 of Them (October 2020)
Do You Know What a Pill Press Is? (August 2019)
Illegal Pill Presses: An Overlooked Threat to American Patients (with NABP and NADDI, March 2019) and April 2021 update (with NADDI)
Fentanyl 101: An Introduction to the Fentanyl Crisis in the U.S. (August 2018)
43 States And Counting: The Deadly Combination Of Imported Fentanyl And Counterfeit Medicines (April 2018)
Videos
Watch PSM's videos about counterfeit pills. Subscribe to our YouTube playlist to catch our updates.