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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The presence of a deadly synthetic opioid that’s the focus of a federal alert has been confirmed in illicitly manufactured pills seized earlier this year by the Lakeport Police Department.
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen said this week that recent lab results confirmed that the pills, seized in the spring, contained fentanyl, which the Drug Enforcement Administration says is a dangerous synthetic opioid that is lethal in minute doses.
Federal authorities also warned this week that cartels are distributing the deadly substance throughout North America in the form of counterfeit pills.
On May 29, Lakeport Police Officer Casey Debolt conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Leopoldo Bravo of Kelseyville due to an equipment violation, as Lake County News has reported.
Bravo, who was on searchable probation out of Los Angeles County for selling heroin, was found to be in possession of more than an ounce of cocaine, 100 opioid tablets and approximately $1,968 in cash, police said.
Rasmussen said this week that the pills seized from Bravo were marked as – and appeared to be – pharmaceutical oxycodone tablets.
As part of Lakeport Police’s followup investigation, the pills were sent to the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Forensic Services for analysis, Rasmussen said.
A sample from the batch was chemically analyzed and found to contain fentanyl. Rasmussen, who got the test results on Monday night, said no oxycodone was detected.
He said the pills were marked with the letter “M” and the number “30” which is consistent with a legitimately manufactured oxycodone pill.
Based on all of the information the police department has so far, Rasmussen said they believe the pills were possessed and transported for sale in the community.
Rasmussen said they also believe the pills were probably manufactured with a larger batch somewhere outside of the community and possibly outside of the United States.
On Monday, the DEA issued an alert stating that Mexican drug cartels are manufacturing mass quantities of counterfeit prescription pills containing fentanyl for distribution throughout North America.
Based on a sampling of tablets seized nationwide between January and March 2019, the DEA found that 27 percent contained potentially lethal doses of fentanyl.
“Capitalizing on the opioid epidemic and prescription drug abuse in the United States, drug trafficking organizations are now sending counterfeit pills made with fentanyl in bulk to the United States for distribution,” said DEA Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon. “Counterfeit pills that contain fentanyl and fentanyl-laced heroin are responsible for thousands of opioid-related deaths in the United States each year.”
Fentanyl and other highly potent synthetic opioids remain the primary driver behind the ongoing opioid crisis, with fentanyl involved in more deaths than any other illicit drug, the DEA reported.
Federal officials said a lethal dose of fentanyl is estimated to be about two milligrams, but can vary based on an individual’s body size, tolerance, amount of previous usage and other factors.
Rasmussen said his agency doesn’t currently know how much fentanyl might be contained in each of the seized pills.
The Lakeport Police Department, which has issued warnings about fentanyl in the past, is once again alerting the community due to the lab results and the danger such pills pose, Rasmussen said.
He said they also have alerted their partners at Lake County Prevention and SafeRx Lake County and asked them to share the information.
“I had been worried about fentanyl pills showing up here and now they have,” Rasmussen said.
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