ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Ryan Cooper’s mother says she knows exactly how he got the drugs that killed him.
“He ordered them through the dark web. They would come through the U.S. Postal Service right to our house,” Sandy Cooper said.
His sister, Shelby Cooper, says she believes her brother was trying to self-medicate.
“He ordered something similar to Xanax and it was laced with fentanyl,” she said.
Criminals mass-produce counterfeit pills, like the ones Ryan Cooper ordered online, using pill presses. They’re made to look like legitimate prescription pills – usually Oxycodone or Xanax – but they often contain deadly doses of fentanyl or other drugs.
“Just because a pill looks like a legitimate pharmaceutical pill does not mean that’s the type of drug that’s in that pill,” said Julie O’Donnell, PhD, the Overdose Mortality Team Lead in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Overdose Prevention.
Her team’s research shows that evidence of counterfeit pill use in overdose deaths more than doubled within about two years, from 2% during July-September 2019 to 4.7% during October-December 2021.
“While that’s sort of, overall, a low percentage of deaths – so, it remained under 5% for that entire time period – it still is something that’s increasing potentially rapidly,” O’Donnell said.
The Drug Enforcement Agency has seized a record 74.5 million fentanyl-laced fake pills this year. The DEA says seven out of 10 of the pills they test contain a lethal dose of fentanyl.
It doesn’t take much. Two milligrams, which can fit on the tip of a pencil, can be enough to kill.
“You really should only be using pills that are prescribed to you. Obtaining pills either from a friend or from a family member, you don’t necessarily know what is in those pills,” O’Donnell said.
The CDC report found that people whose deaths were connected to evidence of fake prescription pills tended to be younger, Hispanic or Latino, and had a history of misusing real prescription drugs.
Sandy Cooper says she has a message for people who are ordering pills online.
“I would say, ‘You’re playing with fire,’” she said. “You just don’t know what’s in there, so it’s not worth the risk.’”
If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, you can find resources here.