Pill press update: July 2025 through January 2026

February 10, 2026

Policymakers became generally aware of pill presses with the rise of the opioid crisis, when drug traffickers began selling counterfeit prescription pills made with fentanyl, with catastrophic results.

Illegal pill presses and molds continue to create fake pills that harm and even kill thousands of Americans every year. PSM's research team tracks when law enforcement seizes them, when customs officers interdict them at the border, when prosecutors charge people with their sale or usage, and when legislatures attempt to criminalize them.

This update includes:

  • International seizures tracked from customs records;
  • Domestic seizures tracked through open source news coverage;
  • Noteworthy prosecutions involving pill presses;
  • Federal and state legislation governing pill press usage and sales; and
  • A look at pill press listings on third-party platforms (see more below).

 

Read the update and explore additional resources about pill presses here.

 

Expect our next report, on the first half of 2026, in July.

How are third party platforms dealing with pill press sales?

Facebook Marketplace

PSM staff were taken aback by how easy it was to find pill press listings on Facebook Marketplace, which does not explicitly forbid listing the machines.

Cursory searches of Craigslist and NextDoor didn't yield the same results.

Examples of pill press listings on Marketplace, January 2025.

Google Ads and Shopping

Google restricted pill presses and related equipment from Google’s Ads and Shopping listings last year. They reaffirmed the ban when MassLive journalist Hadley Barndollar picked up PSM’s research about compliance problems.

Results page from a search on Shopping, February 2026.

eBay

Searches on the eBay yielded no pill press results. Google searches returned a few results like the one below, but clicking on them led to inactive listings.

Screenshots from January 2025.

Amazon

We found no pill press listings on Amazon's U.S. site whether we searched on the platform or via Google.

Searches of Amazon Canada did yield results, despite pill press sales being banned on the Canadian site.

Screenshots from Amazon.ca, January 2025.

Alibaba

Direct searches for pill presses or tablet presses do not return results. Alibaba does offer a list of potential pill press suppliers, with which user can inquire directly.

Screenshots from Alibaba, January 2025.