Deaths from fake pills with fentanyl are surging across the country. This is a trend affecting school-aged individuals that we want to bring awareness to. Our hope is to prevent further senseless loss of our kids!

Teens are purchasing what they think are OxyContin, Percoset or Xanax pills via social media, but drug dealers are making these fake pills with the cheaper, stronger and more deadly synthetic drug fentanyl to increase their profits. Fentanyl is up to 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Fentanyl is odorless, tasteless and colorless. Teens never know what they’re getting. One pill can kill them. One pill.

The pills are nicknamed “Blues” for their common color (though they can come in other colors) or “M30s” for the stamp on the pills. The tablets are so well made that even experienced users say that they can’t tell the difference between a counterfeit pill and a pill manufactured by a pharmaceutical company. To be clear, these are not pharmaceutical-grade painkillers; they are pills made by drug dealers, mostly outside the country. There is no quality control. Pills in the same batch can have wildly varying levels of fentanyl. The amount of fentanyl it takes to overdose and die is equivalent to two grains of sand.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health alert in December 2020 because of an increase in synthetic opioids that hit the western United States — and the Interstate 5 corridor, in particular. Already this year in Washington County in Oregon, the Westside Interagency Narcotics Team has seized more than 17,000 pills, with most suspected as counterfeit “M30" Oxycodone pills. In all of 2020, the team seized fewer than 14,000 pills. Learn more about the regional crisis.

Local investigators point to advertisements on social media platforms such as Snapchat. Officials say that young people find pills especially appealing because they’re cheap, more socially acceptable than meth or heroin and don’t have a tell-tale smell like alcohol or marijuana. 

Investigators have recently noted that the use of pills laced with fentanyl has diminished somewhat and has shifted to more “colorful” powdered methods to attract youth. 

Want to help? One Pill Can Kill Partner Toolbox (Courtesy of DEA)

We urge you to learn about the dangers of fentanyl and other drugs and speak to your children about them. Kidshealth.org has information that can help you navigate conversations with your children. Please reach out to your school’s counselors or principals if you have any questions or concerns about your children.