Fake Pharmaceuticals Laced with Fentanyl Are a Global Health Crisis

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KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 30 January 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

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Summary

Counterfeit pharmaceutical pills laced with drugs like fentanyl are a new global crisis according to a recent article in the journal Lancet. The fake prescription pills are often the same color and size as the original, making them virtually indistinguishable. In 2023 the DEA found that 70% of counterfeit pharmaceutical pills contained a potentially deadly dose of fentanyl. And while drug overdoses among young people were down last year compared to 2023, the number of young people dying of opioid overdoses is still double what it was before the pandemic. We’ll talk to a parent whose son died of an accidental fentanyl overdose and with addiction experts about the crisis and what can be done to prevent it. Guests: Daniel Ciccarone, professor of Family & Community Medicine, UCSF Ed Ternan, founder, Charlie's Song, a nonprofit focused on fentanyl education and awareness Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, professor of pediatrics and adolescent medicine, Stanford University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:02.7	From KQED Public Radio in San Francisco, I'm Leslie McClurg in for Alexis Madrigal.
1:09.1	Counterfeit pills can look so real that even experts can't tell the difference between them and the real medication.
1:11.7	But these drugs can be lethal. The DEA estimates that 70% of fake drugs contain a deadly dose of fentanyl. We talk to experts
1:18.8	about the problem and hear from a parent whose child tried to buy a percassette, but
1:23.9	unknowingly bought a lethal dose of fentanyl. That's next after this news. I'm I. I'm Leslie McClurg. I'm in today for Alexis Madrigal. If you're a college student on deadline or you're a teen who's low on their ADHD medication, you can go to Snapchat to buy Adderall or Perkissette or Xanax to take you up or maybe help you relax. But you might not get the real thing. The DEA
2:36.0	estimate that 70% of counterfeit pills contain a deadly dose of fentanyl. It's so common that 22
2:42.8	teens are dying weekly from fake pharmaceuticals, according to a UCLA study. And this market is
2:49.9	growing. These impostors are rippling out across the globe.
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