Fentanyl: One Pill Can Kill

#BeavertonPolice

Many longtime residents of Beaverton still admire the small town feel our city has. Tight knit communities are common in Beaverton. Friendly neighbors, welcoming businesses, beautiful parks, and good schools are just a few of the things that make Beaverton so great. In many ways we still feel immune to some “big city problems” affecting the largest cities across the country.

But, below the beauty of our serene neighborhoods lies a killer. In a 30-day period from December 2022-January 2023 the Washington County Interagency Narcotics Team (WIN) has responded to seven local overdose deaths related to fentanyl. Among the victims, a teenager.

One WIN officer said, “Everyone in our community needs to be aware of the threat fentanyl poses. Parents need to speak with their children about how dangerous this drug is and how easy it is to disguise in commonly used pills and street drugs. Seven deaths, yes, but there were also many more overdoses where a person was treated with Narcan just in time before fentanyl could kill them.”

What is fentanyl?

According to the DEA, fentanyl is a deadly synthetic opioid which is being pressed into fake pills or left as a powder for drug dealers to mix into street drugs like heroin, cocaine, meth, and MDMA (ecstasy/molly), to drive addiction.

Synthetic fentanyl is made in a lab and is 50 times more potent than heroin.

International drug cartels are making fentanyl and pressing it into fake pills made to look like OxyContin®, Xanax®, Adderall®, and other common pharmaceuticals.

Due to the unregulated nature of production, there is no way of knowing how much fentanyl is in each illegally produced pill. One pill can kill.

What is a lethal dose of fentanyl? Only two milligrams, which is depicted in the picture next to a penny.

For more information about fentanyl visit: https://www.dea.gov/onepill 

For parents: https://www.songforcharlie.org/