CNN
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Authorities in New York seized record-breaking quantities of fentanyl powder and faux prescription tablets laced with the potent opioid in 2022, in accordance with two drug enforcement companies.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) New York Division seized 1.9 million fentanyl-laced tablets and 1,958 kilos of fentanyl throughout the state final 12 months, marking a 152% enhance from 2021, the company mentioned in a joint launch with New York Metropolis’s Workplace of the Particular Narcotics Prosecutor.
“To place that into perspective, all through 2022, we seized sufficient lethal doses of fentanyl in New York for greater than thrice the inhabitants of New York State,” DEA Particular Agent in Cost Frank Tarentino mentioned within the launch.
The announcement comes because the US is fighting a decades-long opioid epidemic wherein fentanyl has grow to be essentially the most generally used drug concerned in overdoses.
Deaths involving artificial opioids comparable to fentanyl elevated by 22% in 2021, in accordance with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) information, and in 2022, there have been about 181,806 nonfatal opioid overdoses recorded within the US.
“We all know that there are considerably extra nonfatal overdoses than deadly ones,” Director of Nationwide Drug Management Coverage Dr. Rahul Gupta mentioned final month. “We additionally know that experiencing a nonfatal overdose is among the most vital predictors of a future deadly overdose.”
In New York Metropolis alone, the CDC estimates that there have been over 3,000 deadly overdoses from July 2021 to July 2022. Greater than 2,300 – or about 80% – of those overdoses had been attributable to fentanyl, the drug enforcement companies mentioned of their launch.
The DEA’s New York Division additionally famous virtually 30,000 kilos of cocaine, greater than 700 kilos of heroin, and 1,800 kilos of methamphetamine had been additionally seized in 2022.
One of many largest rainbow fentanyl seizures in NY city historical past came about within the lead as much as Halloween final 12 months with authorities seizing 15,000 rainbow-colored fentanyl tablets.
