'They are making a killing, literally': How an evolving drug trade ends in more deaths

When more than 107,000 people nationwide died from drug overdoses in 2021, their numbers exceeded fatal car crash victims and added up to more than three times the number to die from gunshot wounds, a Drug Enforcement Administration analyst said recently.

The deaths were also more than twice the number related to drug overdoses just six years earlier, federal data show.

A shifting drug trade lies behind the rising numbers and the growing risks of death among people who have no idea they are taking dangerous drugs in life-threatening doses, Ernesto Garay of the DEA told the State Attorney’s Addiction Recovery Task Force this year.

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The shift has been from a drug trade based on heroin to one based on fentanyl to drugs derived from chemicals in fentanyl, and to ever cheaper and deadlier drugs. It has been driven by profit and convenience and facilitated by digital technology.

DEA test buys of street drugs saw a change from equal amounts of fentanyl and heroin in 2019 to more fentanyl than heroin by the following year, he said. By 2022, they found no heroin at all.

It comes down to cold math: The return on the investment in fentanyl is greater.

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While the value of a kilogram of heroin is thousands of dollars, the value of a kilogram of fentanyl is millions. Heroin production is restricted by growing seasons and requires acres of land. Fentanyl can be produced year-round in indoor labs from chemicals that have legitimate uses. Drug makers can purchase unlimited supplies from China, Garay notes.

The use of those ingredients to make drugs such as fake oxycodone and added to other counterfeit concoctions, including those sold as Xanax and Adderall, makes the drugs more addictive and deadlier.

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When a pill that costs 40 cents in Mexico crosses the border, its value goes up to $6 to $10. It costs $20 once in Florida.

And, he says: “One pill can kill.”

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In 2021 the DEA found four out of every 10 counterfeit fentanyl pills produced in mass quantities contained a deadly dose. By this year, Garay said, it is six out of 10 pills.

“They’re making a killing, literally,” Garay said. “Killing people and making money.”

All of this adds up to what Garay calls “a wake-up call if you have children” and “Russian roulette” for college and high school students buying what they might think are recreational drugs or black market drugs to help them study.

The latest technology brings the risks closer with smart phones making drug purchases easier than ever, he said. Translation apps and emojis can be used to overcome language barriers. Credit card and payment apps can advance the money. And delivery apps — including share ride services — take care of getting the drugs to the buyer.

In the end, buyers get more than they bargained for.

“There are people who are dying because they think they are buying Oxycontin, Xanax, Percocet, Adderall,” he said.

Products that can test drugs for the presence of fentanyl have been considered drug paraphernalia and were illegal for over the counter sale until this year. Over the past two years, the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office task force has introduced and supported legislation to make the product legal, which was passed the last session.

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For people who are addicted to fentanyl or unaware of the risks, the threat of death remains high. Fentanyl was present in an estimated 93% of opioid overdose deaths in 2022.

New drugs continue to appear on the scene. Xylazine, the non-opioid animal tranquilizer known as “tranq,” was found in 40 overdose deaths in 2022. Drugs derived from fentanyl ingredients, one with similar potency to that of fentanyl and one estimated to be 20 times more potent, also were found in the bodies of those who died.

Antigone Barton is an investigative reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at avbarton@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Shift from heroin to fentanyl fuels drug overdose death toll