The depth of the mislabeled illegal prescription drug trade

By now it has been widely reported that a pill labeled Watson 385, which was was found inside an Aleve bottle at Prince’s home, tested positive for fentanyl. Watson 385 is a prescribed hydrocodone-acetaminophen pain medicine, not fentanyl. The details behind this revelation are alarming and disturbing on many levels.

First off, it further demonstrates that Prince not only knew exactly what he was ingesting, but also provides insight into the means and extent to which he was willing to go to hide his addiction. People don’t purchase falsely labeled counterfeit drugs at Walgreens.

{mosads}Mass manufacturing and mislabeling is rampant in the illegal prescription drug trade. This process is a calculated act designed to smuggle fentanyl past U.S. customs since it is often brought into the U.S. in a powdered or other pill forms. Larger-scale narcotics dealers will often take the pure power and press it into tablets utilizing sophisticated pill presses. 

When an addict brings these mislabeled pills into their home, the chances that a family member or friend may consume the drugs thinking it was an Advil or Aleve are highly likely to result in death. This is due to the strength of the drug and the average person’s intolerance of it.

With more and more cases of mislabeling use proliferating many highly qualified pharmacists have stated that even they cannot tell the difference between fentanyl disguised as an antibiotic and the actual antibiotics they would dispense in their pharmacy.  

So where are these mislabeled counterfeit drugs coming from? In the same vein that Columbia, Mexico, Afghanistan have been notoriously linked to cocaine and heroin, China is now considered to be the world’s leading exporter of counterfeit mislabeled pharmaceuticals. While the risk is not very high that the fentanyl-laced medications will make it into the public supply, Law Enforcement agencies in the U.S. must leverage enhanced screening protocols for inbound pharmaceuticals from China and the Pacific Rim.

The drugs destined for the illicit US market are getting through and dealers are successfully receiving the contraband after they easily clear US Customs. This is further demonstrated by skyrocketing death rates. Addicts have turned to fentanyl because of its quick onset time and the elevated high they experience from the powerful drug compared to pharmaceuticals-produced opiates or even heroin.

Since addicts develop extremely high tolerances requiring more and more to get the same effect, many are left in a constant search for the “better and faster-onset” high. This desire leads to increasingly dangerous situations. Prescribed opiates and normal heroin have slower onsets, leaving a longer period of time for EMS to respond before the overdosed individual would reach full respiratory arrest followed by cardiac arrest.

Fentanyl however, works extremely fast and can cause respiratory arrest in zero to about three minutes leaving virtually no time for Emergency Responders to arrive and administer the lifesaving opiate-antagonist brand, Narcan. This life-saving drug can be obtained legally online and elsewhere by addicts — low-chance to self-administer — and family-members and friends of users for free. I strongly encourage them to do that.

The abuse of fentanyl is at epidemic proportions and action must be taken to stop the influx of illicit, mislabeled drugs into the U.S. 

A recovered addict, Ben Levenson has become one the nation’s leading voices in addiction and treatment. He is founder of the world-renowned Origins Behavioral Healthcare and serves as the Chairman and founder of The Levenson Foundation a privately-funded philanthropic organization chartered, structured and managed to provide stabilizing financial, operational, clinical and geopolitical support to mental health and recovery-focused humanitarian activities around the world.

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