Last week, after two Ohio State students perished of suspected drug overdoses, the university alerted students to “fake Adderall pills” circulating on campus that appear to contain the synthetic opioid fentanyl. Importantly, these deaths come on the heels of new provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicating that the number of predicted overdose deaths in 2021 surpassed 107,000, a new record.
Unfortunately, a National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS) released by the Biden administration in April leaves little room for optimism. The document has major shortcomings that undermine its ability to defeat the deadly threat of illicit drugs. While the NDCS acknowledges the recent spike in deaths from overdoses, it does not pivot resources, nor enforcement and management efforts, toward cutting the supply of those drugs most responsible for the higher death toll: illicitly produced synthetic opioids, like the fentanyl apparently present in the fake Adderall plaguing Ohio State.
Comments