Growing fentanyl crisis is leaving ‘trail of death’ in its wake, federal officials warn
‘I’ve lost track of how many people I’ve heard from’
Rosa Del Pilar, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, checks her phone at a gas station across the highway from where she was shot and killed by her husband in his pickup truck on July 30, 2018. Rosa Del Pilar, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, checks her phone at a gas station across the highway from where she was shot and killed by her husband in his pickup truck on July 30, 2018. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Fentanyl crisis left behind ‘trail of death’ 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
While the United States is dealing with a national drug problem, hundreds of thousands of Americans are losing their lives to the deadly opioid fentanyl, federal officials said Wednesday.
In the last week, the United States has recorded the deaths of at least 64 people from the drug, which has killed more than 4,000 Americans so far this year. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is made in labs and often mixed with heroin to create one lethal dose.
The drug has become a national crisis after a sharp hike in overdose deaths. More than 100,000 opioid users in the United States used heroin in 2016, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. That number is expected to spike past 165,000 users this year.
In the last week, the death toll has risen from 24 to 34. Federal officials said the deaths are just the tip of the iceberg — meaning that more Americans are dying from the fentanyl.
“There’s no other substance with a more widespread, longer term impact on society,” said Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.
The surge in deaths — and the fact that many of those who died were minorities — is prompting officials to call for more medication-assisted treatment.
“We have to get to a situation in which there’s so much medication that there’s no need to use the drug,” King said.
To date, federal law enforcement officials have found 10 fentanyl labs in the United States, according to a June report by the Department of Justice. The labs, which were found inside homes, hotels, cars or
