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U.S. NEWS Friday 1 February 2019

FENTANYL around the U.S., includ-
Continued from Front ing the 2016 accidental
Most of the seized fentanyl death of pop music legend
with an overall street value Prince, who consumed the
of about $3.5 million was opioid in counterfeit pills
in white powder form, but that looked like the narcot-
about 2 pounds of it (1 ki- ic analgesic Vicodin.
logram) was contained U.S. law enforcement of-
in pills. Agents also seized ficials say the illicit version
nearly 395 pounds (179 ki- of the painkiller is now seen
lograms) of methamphet- mostly as a white powder
amine with a street value that can be mixed with her-
of $1.18 million, Humphries oin for an extra kick as well
said. as blue pills that are coun-
"The size of a few grains of terfeits of prescription drugs
salt of fentanyl, which is like oxycodone.
a dangerous opioid, can The legal prescription form Juan Mariscal, assistant special agent in charge for Nogales talks during a press conference
kill a person very quickly," of the drug is used mostly Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019, in Nogales, Ariz.
Humphries said. The seizure, to provide relief to cancer Associated Press
he said, had prevented patients suffering unbear-
an immeasurable number able pain at the end of
of doses of the drug "that their lives.
could have harmed so DEA officials have said that
many families." while 85 percent of the il-
The Drug Enforcement Ad- licit fentanyl entering the
ministration said the previ- United States from Mexico
ous largest U.S. seizure of is seized at San Diego-ar-
fentanyl had been in Au- ea border crossings, an in-
gust 2017 when it captured creasing amount is being
145 pounds (66 kilograms) detected on the border
of the drug in a Queens, with Arizona, a state where
New York, apartment that the Sinaloa cartel controls
was linked to the Sinaloa the drug trade and fatal
Cartel. Before that, the fentanyl overdoses are ris-
largest recorded fentanyl ing.
seizure was 88 pounds (40 The federal Centers for Dis-
kilograms) nabbed from ease Control and Preven-
a pickup truck in Bartow tion says in a recent report
County, Georgia. that fentanyl is now the
Mexican traffickers have drug most often involved
been increasingly smug- in fatal overdoses across
gling the drug into the the country, accounting
United States, mostly hid- for more than 18,000, or
den in passenger vehicles almost 29 percent, of the
and tractor-trailers trying to 63,000 overdose fatalities in
head through ports of en- 2016.q
try in the Nogales, Arizona,
and San Diego areas.
Doug Coleman, the DEA's
special agent for the Phoe-
nix division, expressed
admiration for size of the
recent bust, emphasizing
that it was not the product
of any intelligence from his
agency but rather "pure,
old fashioned police work"
by the agent who pulled
the truck over.
"It was totally a cold hit"
based on the agent's
hunch, Coleman said.
Fentanyl has caused a
surge in fatal overdoses