New trend of massive overdoses caused by fentanyl, warns the DEA

Much of the fentanyl entering the US comes from Mexico, report says 0:58 (CNN) — Anne Milgram, administrator of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), warned about the massive fentanyl overdose events on CNN’s “At This Hour” on Friday. “This is a trend that we haven’t seen before,” Milgram said. “In less than two months, in seven cities in the United States, we had massive overdose events; three or more people who overdosed at the same time in the same place,” Milgram said. “In total, we tracked 58 overdoses and 29 overdose deaths.” “We wanted to make sure we reached out to state and local law enforcement and let them know that we want to help in any way we can, both to bring justice to those whose lives are being lost to these tragic overdose deaths, which are poisonings, and also to prevent the next death from happening, to stop those pills and cocaine laced with fentanyl,” he said. When asked what would help stem the influx of the drug into communities, Milgram said there were a number of things that she considers “critically important.” These include building partnerships with state and local law enforcement and making sure everyone understands how deadly and dangerous the drug is. At least seven cities across the country have had a massive overdose event in recent months, including Wilton Manors, Florida; Austin, Texas; Cortez, Colorado; Commerce City, Colorado; Omaha, Nebraska; St.Louis, Missouri; and Washington, said a DEA alert, published last week. “Tragic events like these are being caused by fentanyl,” the alert says, adding that the drug is highly addictive, found in all 50 states, and increasingly mixed with other drugs such as cocaine or heroin or it is sold as counterfeit prescription pills. This week, the CDC released new provisional overdose figures, estimating that 106,854 people died due to a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending November 2021. Annual drug overdose deaths have more than doubled in the past six years, rising 16% in the past year alone. Synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, were involved in about two-thirds of drug overdose deaths in the past year. While heroin-related deaths have decreased in recent months, deaths related to synthetic opioids or psychostimulants have nearly doubled in the past two years. Over the past year, overdose deaths have increased in all but three states: Wyoming, Hawaii and New Hampshire. A third of all overdose deaths occurred in five states: California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas.