Fentanyl test strips are sold online and easily obtained free from many public health departments. They’re touted as a harm reduction tool to help drug users determine whether fentanyl is present in a pill or powder. But Sheriff’s Deputy Patrick Craven, the lead detective of the newly formed opioid response team in rural Placer County, California, warns that the test strips are now being used by drug dealers who post photos on social media showing “negative” test results to advertise that their drugs are “clean.
” Asked if users can trust that information, Craven said, “Absolutely not.” Fentanyl test strips can’t offer accurate results unless an entire pill or batch of powder is tested, something most users don’t know how to do — or don’t want to do. “Most people are not going to go and spend money on drugs only to test them and then find out, ‘I can’t use this,’” Craven said.
Last year the Drug Enforcement Administration seized more than 77 million fentanyl pills and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder, the most fentanyl seized by the DEA in a single year. According to the agency, that’s more than 386 million deadly doses of fentanyl — enough to kill every American. The DEA also says that fentanyl pills are only growing more potent.
In 2023, laboratory tests showed that 7 out of 10 pills tested contained a potentially deadly dose of fentanyl, a steady increase from 4 out of 10 pills in 2021 and 6 out of 10 in 2022. Just two milligrams.
