U.S. expected to reach an agreement with Mexico to stop Fentanyl from coming across the border
JACKSON, TENN (WNBJ)-
The dangerous drug Fentanyl continues to claim lives all across the country. The US is expected to reach an agreement with Mexico to stop Fentanyl from coming across the border, but in the meantime, it's an epidemic here in West Tennessee.
“One pill can kill” is what law enforcement say about Fentanyl.
“It takes, on average, about two milligrams of fentanyl to kill an adult. Two milligrams of fentanyl would sit inside of Lincoln's head on a penny," Johnie Carter the Director of the West Tennessee Drug Task Force said.
Carter explains drug dealers use Fentanyl in pills because its cheaper than other drugs, “They're not using exact measurements. They're not using any type of scientific formulas. They're taking their fentanyl they're taking the cutting agent that they're putting in the funnel and they're mixing it up in a bowl and they're running it through a pill press and pressing pills. You might have no fentanyl in one pill, and you might have five milligrams of fentanyl in another pill, which is going to be immediately deadly to anybody that takes, which is you see a lot of overdoses.”
Carter says Fentanyl overdoses have become a huge problem in West Tennessee, “It's my personal opinion that for every overdose that we are seeing, we are finding it or it's being brought to the emergency room for not only what's being called for, but we're also guessing there's at least three or four here that we don't know even occurred.”
Last night members of the drug task force were able to seize fentanyl and other drugs from a hidden compartment during a traffic stop in Dyer County.
“One pound of fentanyl and it looks like a kilogram, which is 2.2 pounds of china white heroin. And somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 to $40000 in US currency all concealed within that compartment," Carter said.
While the Fentanyl crisis rages on all across the country, the U.S. and Mexico are set to announce a deal to try to stop Fentanyl from coming into the United States.
Mexican military and police, with the help of U.S. law enforcement, will focus on tracking raw materials for fentanyl being shipped to Mexico, finding and shutting down labs that make the deadly synthetic opioid and going after key players in the illicit Fentanyl trade, sources familiar with the strategy told NBC.
“I don't think there's anything that can be done to make it any worse. So anything that they do, we just make it better," Carter said.
Carter warns everyone to stay far away from Fentanyl, “It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when….all it takes is one pill to kill. So stay away from it if it's not being prescribed to you legally by a physician. Don't mess with it.”
