KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — The Drug Enforcement Agency said an increase in the number of counterfeit drugs is leading to more deaths. They estimated that around 40% of counterfeit pills sold on the street, on the internet, or on social media have a lethal dose of fentanyl.
In 2020 across Tennessee, more than 2,000 people died of a possible drug overdose tied to fentanyl. It's more than double the year before. Nationwide, federal figures show overdoses jumped 30% last year.
Usually, a person using illegal drugs cannot see, smell or taste fentanyl — making it incredibly dangerous. Testing strips that reveal if fentanyl is present in a substance may also be unavailable for them.
Fentanyl is reported to be around 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more than heroin. Experts also said that drug use in Knoxville is on a continuous climb.
Karen Pershing, the Knoxville Metro Drug Coalition Executive Director, said fentanyl began appearing in overdose autopsies in 2016. She also said that it can just take one pill for someone to overdose.
"One pill can be deadly. The next pill you take could be the last pill," Pershing said. "It's compounding it seems like daily and it's getting more and more powerful too.”
Pershing said the most common age for a drug overdose in the Knoxville area is between 18 years old and 24 years old. Most of the time, she said it is from people taking what they believe to be Xanax or pharmaceutical opioids.
"There's a lot of counterfeit pills that look like a legitimately prescribed medication, but they're actually fentanyl in disguise," Pershing said.
That's the heightened danger right now, she said. There have already been around 200 fatal overdoses in Knox County so far this year. On average, two people have died every day in June so far, in Knox County, due to possible overdoses.
The Knox County District Attorney General's office puts the total suspected deaths at 14 so far in June.
"They didn't have an addiction issue or anything going on and had no idea that these pills were actually counterfeit," Pershing said.
Experts said it is important for parents and guardians to sit down with kids and discuss the dangers of taking a pill that isn't prescribed to them. Tennessee has also decriminalized fentanyl testing strips to prevent deaths from happening. They were previously classified as drug paraphernalia until the last legislative session.
MDC said they will soon provide them for free as a way to warn users.
"They were against the law because drug dealers were giving them to their clients to show their product is pure," Pershing said. "So, they won’t die. I mean reality is, our overdose death numbers are ridiculous.”
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said it is alarmed by the death rate. David Rausch, the TBI Director and former Knoxville Police Chief, said fentanyl is used legally in hospitals, but it's not the same thing as what's being found in illegal drugs.
"People need to know that fentanyl is one of the most dangerous drugs we have ever seen," Rausch said. "We don't have scientists mixing these drugs. What's happening is we have drug dealers mixing it up and distributing it."
The Knoxville Metro Drug Coalition can help people navigate treatment and recovery processes if they need help recovering from addiction. Resources are available online.