They look like Xanax. They are labeled as Xanax. But they aren’t Xanax.
Columbus police say they have seized more than 100 counterfeit Xanax pills in drug dealing investigations in Bartholomew County so far this year and are warning the public that some of the counterfeit pills being sold on the street contain a lethal ingredient.
The pills, which have the same markings, color and size as doctor-prescribed Xanax pills, often contain fentanyl, according to Bartholomew County’s Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team detectives, who requested anonymity due to the nature of their work.
The pills are still pending lab analysis, but preliminary tests of some of the confiscated pills were positive for fentanyl and, in one case, methamphetamine.
“The counterfeit Xanax pills do look very similar to Xanax pills,” the detectives said.
“Typically, the persons arrested in our community that have possession of the counterfeit pill have no idea where the pill originated from, and they surely did not buy them from a licensed physician,” the detectives said.
Xanax is a tranquilizer belonging to a group of drugs called benzodiazepines and is prescribed for anxiety and other medical conditions, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid prescribed in the form of patches or lozenges that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and often sold illegally for its heroin-like effect.
The synthetic opioid is often laced with other drugs because it is cheaper and more powerful.
Much of the illegal supply of fentanyl in the U.S. comes from clandestine laboratories in Mexico, where authorities have reported a rise in illegal fentanyl pill press and tableting operations, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
However, most of the counterfeit pills found in the Columbus area are pressed in clandestine labs in Indiana and other states, the detectives said.
The DEA has warned the public multiple times over the past few years about counterfeit pills being sold as Xanax and other drugs.
Michael Gannon, assistant special agent in charge at the DEA’s Indianapolis Field Office, said his office is finding counterfeit pills across Indiana.
“I’d like to sound the alarm about fentanyl,” Gannon said in an earlier interview. “We’ve been seizing kilograms and kilograms of fentanyl. And more importantly, throughout the state of Indiana, we’re seizing hundreds of thousands of pills that are purported to be Oxycodone pills that really have fentanyl in them. In addition to that, we’re also seizing pills that are purported to be Xanax that have fentanyl in them.”
So far, Columbus police have only observed or seized counterfeit opioid pills being passed off as Xanax, the detectives said.
“Dealers will create counterfeit pills in hopes that police will believe they are a controlled substance obtained by prescription or with hopes that the charge will be less—possession of fentanyl is a felony/possession, while possession of Xanax is a misdemeanor,” the detectives said. “This trend of counterfeiting pills has been a long-time process for drug dealers, (starting) in the early 2000s and has increased every year since.”
The number of people seeking help for addictions to Xanax and other benzodiazepines in the Columbus area was on the increase, at least at one point over the past couple years.
Columbus Regional Health’s Treatment and Support Center, or TASC, reported seeing an increase in the number of people seeking help for addiction to Xanax and other benzodiazepines during its first year of operation, said Dr. Kevin Terrell, the facility’s medical director, in an earlier interview.
Withdrawal from benzodiazepines can cause seizures and other medical conditions, and the weaning process can take eight to 12 weeks and require hospitalization, Terrell said.
“(Benzodiazepenes) are much more dangerous to take people off of than opioids are,” Terrell said.
Local officials are concerned that people suffering from an opioid or benzodiazepine addiction may buy the counterfeit pills, believing they are Xanax or other prescription medications when they are really fentanyl.
Last week, the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress, or ASAP, Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office and Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop issued a joint statement, warning that lethal amounts of fentanyl are being found in some toxicology results.
The warning came after two local residents in their 30s died from suspected drug overdoses.
The Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office said there has been 13 cases investigated so far in 2021 as of May 5, with three of those listed as “suspected cases awaiting autopsy and toxicology results. Total overdose cases in 2020 for the same time period was 17, according to coroner’s office records.
Coroner Clayton Nolting said the big concern right now is the amount of fentanyl being seen in the overdose cases right now.
“The average fatal doses are in much higher concentrations in these overdoses,” Nolting said in a previous interview.
It is not clear if the most recent overdose deaths were related to counterfeit pills, but the warning from city and county officials was prompted by what detectives are finding and what toxicology tests are revealing.
“Columbus Police Department and honestly the public are concerned that individuals consuming fentanyl — whether it be by a powder substance or a counterfeit pill — overdosing and more than likely passing away,” the detectives said. “…Truth of the matter, if you have an addiction, seek professional help. If you are prescribed pills from a licensed physician, get the prescribed pills from a pharmacy or a doctor’s office, not a drug dealer or a ‘friend.’ The persons who press the pills into counterfeit pills are not licensed professionals. They do not know how much narcotic should go into each pill, nor do they care.”
