How Drug Addiction Affects the Entire Family

Fentanyl first turned up in Philadelphia’s heroin supply a few years ago. Manufacturers and dealers cut it into their drugs to slash costs and hike profits. The result was an alarming rise in deaths due to accidental overdose. People ingested the same amount they were used to but the incredible potency of the fentanyl caused them to overdose.

Today, a few years later, most users are prepared for the presence of fentanyl in their heroin supplies. Some even skip over heroin altogether and seek out fentanyl on purpose. They’re ready and often looking for the stronger high that the drug provides.

Now manufacturers are banking on another way to raise their profits and it’s causing a new wave of accidental overdoses: pressing fentanyl into counterfeit pharmaceutical pills. Though the practice isn’t a recent development, the availability of these pills escalated during the past year within Philadelphia.

“People have been selling fake pills for a while, but not quite to this extent,” explained local Drug Enforcement Administration spokesperson Pat Trainor. “We’ve seen counterfeit pills for many years, but the availability has really skyrocketed over the past year. It’s of great concern to us – as if Philadelphia isn’t saturated enough with fentanyl products.”

The Medical Examiner’s Office in Philadelphia handles all the bodies of those who lose their lives to drug overdoses. Recently, they’ve noticed the rise in deaths related to these fake pharmaceuticals. Autopsy reports reveal the presence of fentanyl while family members insist their loved one only used prescription drugs.

The body of an overdose victim came through the Medical Examiner’s Office recently, found with a few pills in his pocket. They appeared to be OxyContin, the popular opioid painkiller. Reports showed the presence of fentanyl in his system, though, and the office tested the pills.

Some might assume that fentanyl pills are a problem for people who already struggle with active addiction. According to the Inquirer’s piece, though, many with active drug problems in areas like Kensington avoid pills.

“People that are not from around here seek them out, and they think they know the difference between a real pill and a fake pill,” explained one man on the street in Kensington. But he continued: “And bodies are dropping left and right.”