Less-potent fentanyl pills may be playing a role in decrease of US overdose deaths, DEA says

The US Drug Enforcement Administration says that less fentanyl is present in the nation’s illicit pill supply and that it’s helping drive overdose deaths down in the United States. But experts say that there are limitations to this claim and that many other factors are probably playing a role.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration says that less fentanyl is present in the nation’s illicit pill supply and that is helping drive down overdose deaths in the United States. But experts say that there are limitations to this claim and that many other factors are probably playing a role. About 5 out of every 10 fentanyl pills that the agency tested this year had lethal doses of the synthetic opioid painkiller fentanyl, down from about 7 in 10 last year, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said last week at a summit for families who have lost a loved one to a fentanyl overdose. Federal data also shows that overdose deaths dropped nearly 15% between this June and last. There were about 16,000 fewer lives lost in the most recent 12-month period, according to estimates from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – and the vast majority of the decrease was in deaths involving fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. “Decreases in drug related deaths and the lethality of pills equals lives saved,” Milgram said in a statement. “The cartels have reduced the amount of fentanyl they put into pills because of the pressure we are putting on them.” In May, the DEA released a report outlining the illicit drug threats facing the US. The agency’s “top operational priority is to relentlessly pursue and defeat the two Mexican drug cartels – the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Cartel – that are primarily responsible for driving the current fentanyl poisoning epidemic in the United States,” the report said. The DEA did not respond to CNN’s requests for more information about its fentanyl pill testing, including the number of pills that were tested for this analysis and their source.