Six out of 10 fake prescription pills contain lethal dose of Fentanyl

Taking fake prescription drugs is like playing Russian roulette with a five chamber revolver that has three bullets in it, authorities say. Synthetic opioids, specifically fentanyl, are responsible for more overdose deaths than any other drug and local law enforcement and other first responders are encountering them at an alarming rate in Humboldt County. 

“Our community is actually one of the first ones to be hit with [synthetic opioids]…and now with the trends we’re starting to see a lot more of the powder fentanyl and it’s rare in this small of a community,” said Nevada State Police Investigator and Local Drug Task Force Supervisor John Dunkhorst. 

The Humboldt County Board of Commissioners held an Opioid Summit on April 3 to assess how the public would like to see funds from litigation against multiple opioid prescribers, manufacturers and distributors be spent locally. The litigation is being carried out against those found to be major proponents in the opioid epidemic by a bipartisan alliance of attorney generals from around the United States.

According to Nevada Chief Deputy Attorney General Mark J. Krueger, Humboldt County will receive just over $2.5 million through multiple payments from multiple defendants from now until 2038. 

“Humboldt County can use these funds to provide the support and resources that so many need to heal from addiction and truly thrive, not only individually but us as a community,” explained Sixth Judicial District Court Judge Michael Montero.

Since the Department of Health and Human Services declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency in October 2017, the federal government, states, and counties have been working to address the crisis. The epidemic is thought to have been caused by the overprescribing of painkillers after the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations required pain be assessed as the fifth vital sign (temperature, pulse blood pressure, respiration rate and pain) by medical professionals, changing the way doctors both practice medicine and get paid. Those left addicted to opioids after being prescribed them by a doctor have been left to turn to the streets after regulation ramped up on legitimate opioid prescriptions. 

“We’ve seen an increase in violent crimes, property crimes and mental health crises, so [opioid addiction] has had a compounding effect,” said Investigator Dunkhorst. 

According to Humboldt General Hospital (HGH) Emergency Medical Services (EMS) staff, first responders are carrying double the amount of Narcan — a medicine that is used to reverse an opioid overdose — and giving more than double the potency of doses of Narcan now compared to just five years ago, suggesting that the local opioid crisis is only growing. 

“In the infancy of my career, I would run about 500 patient encounters a year and in six to 12 months I may get one single overdose call over the course of the year," said HGH EMS Deputy Chief of Operations Jordan Kohler. "Fast forward to today’s environment, we are giving [Narcan] sometimes three times in an hour."

The majority of law enforcement, medical professionals, local business owners, and industry stakeholders that presented information panels at the Summit suggested that the litigation funds be spent on some sort of detox and mental health facility, agreeing that Humboldt County needs more resources. 

“Opioid use and drug abuse are not a law enforcement issue, but rather a community issue,” said Winnemucca Police Department Chief Mike Rangel. 

Captain of the Humboldt County Detention Center Jeremy Peters said that the jail becomes a dumping ground for individuals in the community having mental health crises or who need to detox from drugs or alcohol. 

“I would love to see a detox facility that is not a detention center, coupled with mental health services as well for crisis intervention. I think too often we see those individuals end up in jail, and that’s not necessarily the best place for them at that given moment in time, probably ever to be very honest,” said Captain Peters. 

Family Nurse Practitioner Julie Cope recently moved to Winnemucca and is specializing in Medically Assisted Treatment for substance abuse addicts at the Family Support Center.

Through the use of strips, tablets, and shots, the medications she prescribes can help curb cravings, reduce pain from “drug sickness”, and reduce the high or positive feelings an addict gets when using.   

“We actually see people come out of that [addiction] cycle and end up without those social problems that we see with opiates,” explained Cope. 

The DEA declared a public safety emergency for the first time in six years in 2021 to alert the public about the massive influx of fentanyl that the U.S. has seen, according to Resident Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Reno, NV Division Aimee Koontz. 

“Fentanyl has just rapidly risen over the past four or five years. In 2022, DEA seized enough fentanyl to kill every American,” said Koontz. 

The DEA has recently found that 60 percent of fake prescription pills, most commonly disguised to look like Oxycontin, Xanax, and Adderall, contain a lethal dose of fentanyl (as low as two milligrams) and that the leading age group in overdose deaths is getting lower, from ages 55 to 64 previously to 25 to 34 as of 2022. 

“Something is driving the age bracket down,” said Koontz. 

 Opioids bought off the street are not siphoned from pharmaceutical facilities like is commonly thought, but are made in unclean, unregulated, and dangerous facilities that are often outside, exposed to the elements, bacteria, and all sorts of other contaminants. They are made and distributed with no regard to potency or human life, reiterating the DEA’s “one pill can kill” campaign.  

“Of the pills that were tested back in 2018, they had on average 1.8 milligrams of fentanyl. Now they have 2.4 milligrams,” explained Koontz. 

These fake prescription pills are being laced with fentanyl but also with other drugs, like Xylazine, or “tranq”, which lawmakers are pushing for stricter regulation legislation for, to both prolong the effects and get users more addicted. 

“Fentanyl, depending on the use, can last anywhere from an hour to a couple hours. With the tranq it’s making it last six to eight hours,” explained Chief Rangel. 

Nevada previously had some of the strictest drug law, according to Chief Rangel, but law from the 2019 legislative session that took effect in 2020 has created “reduction in penalties with state law,” creating a difficult situation for law enforcement. 

“The best way for us to reduce users is to promote reduction in use, promote programs of knowledge that these drugs are so dangerous and get together as a community,” said Koontz.