Putnam Seeing Uptick In Fake Prescription Pills, Overdoses And Deaths

The DEA has issued a warning about a spike in fake prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine.

Putnam County Sheriff Eddie Farris said Putnam County is no different, seeing a spike over the last seven to eight months. Farris said in the last 12 months, there has been 24 overdose calls, resulting in seven deaths.

“Pills that are perceived as Oxycodone, OxyContin, Percocet, Hydrocodone, Xanax, those types of things,” Farris said. “Even Amphetamines, like Adderal, all these things are being black marketed.”

Farris said these pills often contain the deadly drug fentanyl and even methamphetamine. He said even trained drug agents will have to do lab testing to determine exactly what is in the make up of black market pills.

“When we talk about fentanyl, we’re not talking about fentanyl that is pharmaceutical grade and approved for human medical use,” Farris said. “We’re talking about carfentanil, which is really designed for elephant tranquilizers and that is specific when we’re talking about the fentanyl itself in these fake pills. More often than not, that’s exactly the kind that’s being used. It’s very deadly, it has to be used in a very minute, small amount.”

Farris said that this is just another layer of danger for someone going down the road of drug addiction. He said the days of pills on the street coming from someone’s medicine cabinet are ending.

“Obviously the people who are making black market, counterfeit, fake pills are not chemists,” Farris said. “They’re not doctors. They don’t have the equipment to do this and so once again, that leads into the numbers for the overdoses and really the deaths at the end of the day.”

Farris said that in most cases where pills are taken off the streets during undercover work, they operate under the assumption the pills are counterfeit. Farris said that over the last 24 months there have been 84 overdose calls, and 19 deaths.