LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Fentanyl is targeting Kentucky teenagers at a higher rate than ever before, according to authorities with the DEA's Louisville Division.
Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Scott said the proliferation of fake pills, of which 70% are estimated to be laced with the deadly synthetic opioid, are infiltrating school walls and taking aim at students online and through social media.
"The street corner is now your bedside, it's your phone -- particularly with our young adults who are social media and internet savvy," Scott said. "Their ability to order up fake pills and have it delivered right to their home and their dorm room is a real, real change in some of the drug trafficking and drug-seeking behavior."
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Louisville Drug enforcement officials are putting families on notice, urging them to be vigilant. In October, the White House even warned school districts about the threat and need for preparation.
"As many agents as I have and as hard as they work, the fact is they're not in your kids' bedrooms, they're not in all of these high schools -- and that's where we're seeing the transactions taking place," Scott said.
The crisis comes as drug overdose deaths have dropped by 5% between 2021 and 2022 in Kentucky, but the DEA says the threat of Fentanyl -- especially among young adults -- is increasing by the year.
The CDC estimates the rate of adolescents dying from Fentanyl-related overdoses is up 182%.
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"Unlike at any other time that I can recall, if you take a pill that’s not been prescribed to you by a doctor -- not been given to you directly by a pharmacy -- then you're really taking your life into your [own] hands," Scott told WHAS11 in a sit-down interview. "Every time you're taking a pill nowadays, whether at a party or out on the street, you're literally playing Russian roulette."
Less than a month ago, a 21-year-old Louisville man was sentenced to 13 years in prison for distribution of Fentanyl resulting in death.
Scott tells WHAS11 that the DEA is now looking at overdose deaths differently in recent years. He says in years past, agents often chalked up overdoses as unfortunate accidents, but now they're investigating many more of them as crimes -- and many are found to be poisonings worth prosecution.
Scott said education is king and that conversations between parents and their kids can never start too young.
This year, JCPS expanded its effort to provide critical medical supplies at its schools. The school district is now supplying each school nurse with Narcan.
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