The American authorities seized in 2022 more fentanyl than it is necessary to kill the entire American population, said Tuesday December 20 the American Anti-Drug Agency (DEA), recalling the mortal danger represented by this artificial opiate .
The DEA said it seized 50.6 million counterfeit prescription drug pills containing fentanyl and 4.5 tons of fentanyl powder during the year.
This is the equivalent of "more than 379 million potentially fatal doses", she estimated.
"50 times more powerful than heroin"
Fentanyl, which was responsible for only a small fraction of overdose deaths a decade ago, is now "the deadliest drug threat in the country," the agency says. .
"It is a highly addictive artificial opiate that is 50 times more potent than heroin. Just two milligrams of fentanyl, the small amount that fits on the tip of a pencil, is considered a potentially lethal dose," a- she declared.
It is the main reason behind the more than 107,000 overdose deaths in the United States from July 2021 to June 2022, according to official data.
Cheap and relatively easy to manufacture, fentanyl has supplanted prescription opiates and heroin in the illegal drug market.
According to the DEA, the main suppliers of fentanyl to the United States are the Mexican cartels of Sinaloa and Jalisco.
Their fentanyl is made in Mexico with chemicals "largely from China," she said.
Some is distributed in the form of counterfeit prescription drugs like Percocet, OxyContin and Xanax, according to the same source.
About 60% of counterfeit fentanyl-containing drugs tested by the DEA contained life-threatening doses of fentanyl.
With AFP
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