Authorities in Riverside, California, confiscated over $1.5 million worth of pills containing fentanyl and the drug in its powder form over a two-week period, the Riverside County District Attorney’s office announced Monday.
The Riverside County Gang Impact Team (GIT) made the seizures as part of three separate investigations, according to the district attorney’s office. The seizures contained around 40,000 M-30 pills, which are made to look like oxycodone, laced with fentanyl and five kilograms of fentanyl powder. (RELATED: Drug-Plagued State Sees Record Overdoses Thanks To Fentanyl Epidemic)
“Law enforcement agencies across the United States are finding fentanyl in nearly all illegal drugs. Hundreds of people are dying every year in Riverside County due to fentanyl poisoning. Victims, including young people, are illegally obtaining pills they believe are oxycodone or Percocet but instead contain fentanyl,” the district attorney’s office said.
“It only takes two milligrams of fentanyl to potentially be a fatal dose and a teaspoon contains 5,000 milligrams,” it added.
The Riverside County Gang Impact Team, which is supervised by our Bureau of Investigation, recently seized 40,000 pills containing #fentanyl & 5 kilos of powdered fentanyl. Fentanyl poisoning is killing hundreds each year in RivCo. See news release here: https://t.co/7AcAaggrPC pic.twitter.com/nW9vmQj05Z
— Riverside County DA’s Office (@RivCoDA) June 20, 2022
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). One kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people, according to the DEA, which says that 40% of pills containing fentanyl have a lethal dose.
The Giles County Sheriff’s Department in Tennessee recently warned the public not to pick up folded dollar bills because they could contain fentanyl after two incidents of “great concern to public safety.”
The district attorney’s office didn’t respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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