Earlier this year, the DEA issued a "public safety alert" about the increase in fentanyl and xylazine use. “Xylazine and fentanyl drug mixtures place users at a higher risk of suffering a fatal drug poisoning,” the agency stated.

“The pill Coop took had a lethal dose of Fentanyl in it, and it ended my boy’s life that night.”

Essayli says fentanyl is also a federal issue relating to a secure border. "A lot of fentanyl is easily coming across the border.

Synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, and psychostimulants such as methamphetamine accounted for a large number of deaths. To tackle the fentanyl crisis, President Donald Trump signed the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act in July 2025.

Smith’s 22-year-old son Jackson died in 2016 from a counterfeit Oxycontin laced with fentanyl. Since his death, she has fought to increase awareness and strengthen laws against fentanyl dealers.

Passing 289–133, the bipartisan legislation would strengthen penalties for fentanyl trafficking and was supported by President Joe Biden. Fentanyl would be listed as a Schedule I narcotic under the Controlled Substances Act.

Attorney's Office said the surge in fentanyl-related enforcement has led to a marked increase in the amount of fentanyl seized in San Diego County.

Twenty-eight other counties across the state already have their own admonishments for dealers responsible for fentanyl deaths.

“Many people that die from fentanyl didn’t know they were taking fentanyl.” Andrew Thornebrooke and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A Trial by Fire For Riverside County resident Matt Capelouto, California’s fentanyl crisis is personal.

“China is linking the fentanyl issue and negotiations with other totally different issues like [the] Taiwan issue.

Among this year’s drug haul, over 99 percent of fentanyl was seized at the U.S.

Specifically, the total monthly number of illicitly manufactured fentanyl (IMF) deaths with xylazine increased from 12 in January 2019 to 188 in June 2022.

ET on Feb. 15 on  "Countering Illicit Fentanyl Trafficking,"  with testimony from Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Todd Robinson; Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram; and Office

Smith lives in the city’s infamous Tenderloin district, a hotspot for drug use, and he lost his brother to a fentanyl overdose in October.

"If not for the fentanyl that A.K. received ... A.K. would have lived," prosecutors wrote. Mr.

of methamphetamine and 389 pounds of fentanyl from a trailer in October.

“It's also digital fentanyl in the sense that, as you allude to, it ultimately goes back to the Chinese Communist Party."

A search of the van yielded 63 packages hidden inside cardboard boxes and the packages contained substances that field-tested positive for meth and fentanyl, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

and fentanyl-related compounds.

Drug Enforcement Agency, China is “the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked through international mail and express consignment operations, as well as the main source for all fentanyl-related substances trafficked into

Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death among Americans aged 18 to 45, says Families Against Fentanyl.

—The Coroner's Office Dec. 29 ruled that teen actor Tyler Sanders, star of Amazon's "Just Add Magic: Mystery City," died from an accidental fentanyl overdose.

California legislators are actively passing bills to protect Californians against fentanyl and recently passed 16 fentanyl-related bills that would focus on education, prevention, and treatment of fentanyl overdose.

The pill was actually laced with fentanyl. According to the DEA, drug dealers are selling fake pills marketed as legitimate prescription medicine, but they contain fentanyl. 

A Deadly Crisis Fentanyl is an opioid 50–100 times stronger than morphine.

They don't know they're laced with fentanyl." Ms.

California State Assembly hears fentanyl bills at a hearing in Sacramento on May 25, 2023.

CDC data released earlier this year found overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids such as fentanyl increased from an estimated 57,834 in 2020 to 71,238 in 2021. Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine, officials said.

A Quebec man has been sentenced to 22 years behind bars for his role in a global fentanyl distribution scheme operated from inside a Canadian prison.