Law Enforcement Seizure of Pills Containing Fentanyl Soars

The number of pills containing illicit fentanyl seized by law enforcement increased nearly 50-fold from the first quarter of 2018 to the last quarter of 2021, according to data released on Thursday by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

Findings were published this week by Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

The study also found that during the same period, the proportion of pills to total seizures more than doubled, with pills accounting for more than a quarter of illicit fentanyl seizures by the end of 2021. Seizures of fentanyl-containing powder also increased.

“An increase in illicit pills containing fentanyl points to a new and increasingly dangerous period in the United States,” NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, MD, said in a news release. “Pills are often taken or snorted by people who are more naïve to drug use, and who have lower tolerances. When a pill is contaminated with fentanyl, as is now often the case, poisoning can easily occur.”

Researchers reviewed data from between January 2018 and December 2021 from the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program. In comparing the 2 periods, the researchers found:

• 2.09 million individual pills containing fentanyl were seized in the last quarter of 2021, up from 42,202 in the first quarter of 2018
• In total, 635 seizures of pills containing fentanyl in Q4 2021, compared with 68 in Q1 2018
• Seizures of powder containing fentanyl also increased from 424 to 1539; the total weight of powder seized increased from 298.2 kg to 2416 kg.

“For the first time we can see this rapid rise in pills adulterated with fentanyl, which raises red flags for increasing risk of harm in a population that is possibly less experienced with opioids,” study co-investigator Joseph J. Palamar, PhD, MPH, associate professor at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said in the release. “We absolutely need more harm reduction strategies, such as naloxone distribution and fentanyl test strips, as well as widespread education about the risk of pills that are not coming from a pharmacy. The immediate message here is that pills illegally obtained can contain fentanyl.”

References

Law enforcement seizures of pills containing fentanyl increased dramatically between 2018-2021. News release. National Institute on Drug Abuse. March 31, 2022. Accessed March 31, 2022.

JJ Palamar, et al. Trends in seizures of powders and pills containing illicit fentanyl in the United States, 2018 through 2021. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Published March 31, 2022. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109398 (2022).