As a concerned parent, your top priority is keeping your child safe—and alive.

Many of the substances sold on the street are laced with “cutting agents” (like laundry detergent, talcum powder or rat poison), more potent substances or disguised as another drug altogether. For example, marijuana can be laced with embalming fluid, or the hallucinogen PCP. But one of the most dangerous is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. Fentanyl is showing up in cocaine, heroin, pain pills like Percocet, Oxycodone or Norco pills, and in prescription anxiety medications like Xanax.

Recently the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) released its first public health alert in six years. They are warning about fentanyl in the U.S. drug supply and in the first nine months of 2021, have seized 9.5 million counterfeit pills. Their lab analysis shows that two out of every five pills contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl.

Many families wonder why anyone would lace a product with a substance like fentanyl, given it’s so powerful and can easily cause an overdose. After all, who would knowingly promote a product that has the potential to kill their buyers? The answer lies in economics. It’s cheaper to produce, and when combined with other sought-after substances, can generate huge profits, despite the risk of overdose and loss of life.

Someone could think they are taking pain meds or other pills, but in reality they are consuming something much more powerful and dangerous. Two-thirds of teens and young adults who report non-medical use of prescription medicine are getting it from friends, family and acquaintances. Many also purchase these illegally-produced medicines online, over social media, or by smart-phone messaging apps.

Sadly, because they cannot see, taste, or smell this drug, they never can tell which pills are laced with fentanyl—and just one pill can kill!