Pills, powders laced with fentanyl cause increased deaths by overdose among Southern Nevada youth

Overdose deaths from people under 25 years old doubled from 2019 to 2020 in Clark County. Those numbers continue to climb in 2021, according to preliminary data from Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD).

The increase in deaths are associated with counterfeit pills like M30, a prescription opioid, or Adderall and powders like cocaine, but most taking these drugs are unaware that they contain fentanyl, said Jessica Johnson, senior health educator at SNHD.

“This has led some individuals like family members and friends who have lost loved ones to characterize this as a poisoning,” she said. 

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its inability to be detected by sight, taste, smell or touch makes it harder for individuals to know its presence in their drug of choice. 

“A small amount of fentanyl can be deadly, as little as two micrograms which is about a grain of salt, can cause a fatal overdose,” said Johnson.

Over the last three years, several high profile news stories broke involving counterfeit M30 pills, Adderall and other pills like Xanax and MDMA, along with cocaine laced with fentanyl.

 “If you think you’re getting Adderall and you’re not, you’re getting fentanyl,” said Jamie Ross, executive director of the PACT (Prevention, Advocacy, Choices, Team Work) Coalition. “They [pills like M30] are perceived to be safer and one thing we know about substance use is as perception of harm goes down, use goes up.”

If someone doesn’t know what is in the drugs they’re consuming, it’s easier to take too much of them and risk overdose, she said. 

To date, 40,228 pills were seized by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) in 2022. Those numbers are on track with trends from 2021 when 55,562 pills were seized and in 2019, when 51,500 pills were seized. But, 2020 saw roughly half those numbers, at 28,008 pills.

The quantity of pills seized decreased in 2020, but that had more to do with the Covid-19 stay-at-home orders than a reduction in supply, according to LVMPD, who didn’t break down the numbers of pills by  type. 

However, during 2020, deaths by fentanyl overdose were still on the rise. 

Seven years ago, in 2015, there were 0 reported fentanyl related deaths for residents 18 and under and only 1 for those between 18 and 25, according to SNHD’s data. 

Preliminary SNHD data shows that between 2020 and 2021, 93 Southern Nevadans between 18 and 25 died by fentanyl overdoses. In 2020, 53 people between 18-25 died and 9 people died who were under the age of 18. In 2019, only 13 people between 18-25 died and that number was 3 in 2018. 

From 2015 to 2021, that’s a 3,900% change.

Efforts have been underway at the state and local level to address the increase — including making access to harm-reduction tools like free fentanyl test strips and naloxone, a reversal overdose drug, more readily available to the public. 

Last year state lawmakers removed fentanyl test strips from being categorized – and criminalized – as drug paraphernalia, and SNHD launched its program in December 2021, making the strips available at the SNHD pharmacy. 

The strips are easy to use and can test fentanyl in both powders and pills, said Johnson.

The bulk of people using drugs are concerned with fentanyl in their supplies —86% would use the strips and 70% would change their behavior by either reducing their dosage or not using if they knew fentanyl was found, according to a John Hopkins and Brown University study.

The dosage of fentanyl can vary pill by pill even in the same batch, so it’s important to test every time you use, Ross said. 

Festivals, like Burning Man or EDC, along with clubs and promoted parties, while notorious for illicit drug usage, have been hesitant to embrace harm reduction methods like naloxone and fentanyl test strips.

“All of us are concerned about overdoses at Burning Man, so [we are] ensuring as many people get fentanyl test strips and narcan (an opioid overdose reversal treatment),” Ross said. 

Narcan is also available for free to the public in Nevada. 

While SNHD does not have any formalized partnership with music festivals, bars or clubs it encourages those places to promote safe environments, and for the general public to know about Nevada’s Good Samaritan law, which protects people who call for help during an overdose from criminal charges, Johnson said.  

“Ultimately, the safest drug use is no drug use,” Ross said. “But we also know that there will always be people who use drugs so they can survive because no one who uses drugs deserves to die.”

Note: This story was updated to include additional data from SNHD.