U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized a shipment of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl hidden in pill bottles that was strong enough to potentially provide lethal doses to tens of thousands of people, the agency said.

Related video above: Fentanyl overdose survivor warns others: 'I hit rock bottom, and I hit it hard'

CBP officers in Louisville, Kentucky, detained a shipment Thursday that arrived from India and was manifested as medicine, the agency said. Inspecting officers found five pill bottles, and the pills tested positive for fentanyl properties, CBP said.

The shipment was headed for a residence in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, the agency added.

A CBP spokesman said that a total of 100.4 grams of fentanyl was seized. CBP described the amount as "enough to kill 50,200 people" and with a "street value of at least $15,000." The Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that two milligrams of fentanyl can potentially be lethal, depending on a person's size, tolerance and past usage.

"Even though this shipment may seem like a very small amount, remember 2 milligrams of this stuff is lethal," said Thomas Mahn, the Louisville Port director. "This seizure showcases the excellent work our officers do every day. This is a dangerous opioid, and our officers were able to prevent this deadly drug from reaching its destination."

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is stronger and faster-acting than natural opiates like heroin.

The increased use of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids has led to a large surge in overdose deaths in the U.S. in the last decade. In 2021, nearly 108,000 people died of drug overdoses－nearly double the number of overdoses in 2016－and about two-thirds of those deaths involved fentanyl or another synthetic opioid, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The U.S. government seized enough fentanyl in 2021 to give every American a lethal dose, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said last year.

BOULDER, Colo. — It's a question that's started a debate in communities across the country: should schools keep overdose-reversing spray Narcan in classrooms or on campus?

As opioid overdoses continue to rise, especially among teens, more and more schools are saying yes.

After multiple students overdosed in the Boulder Valley School District in Boulder, Colorado, the community and the district worked together to get Narcan stocked in schools to help save the next student who overdoses from dying.

“The opioid crisis that's happening across the United States is scary, and people are dying, and families are affected. It's a really big deal,” said Jennifer Kerker, a registered nurse and school nurse consultant at Monarch High School in Boulder.

A study from UCLA found that the rate of overdose deaths among U.S. teenagers nearly doubled in 2020, then went up again in the first half of 2021.

That's why Kerker says schools need to be ready to help.

“The only problem with Narcan is not having it when you need it,” said Kerker. “Students want to protect themselves. They want to protect their friends, and parents want to help keep their students safe. Narcan is one way we can do that.”

In the short time since her school had Narcan, Kerker had to use it on a student that was unresponsive.

“Having this medication and knowing we had it in the bag was actually really reassuring. We didn't hesitate. I gave it, and I was glad I had it on hand.”

More than half of states now allow school systems to stock Narcan in schools, and seven states require it for either high schools or colleges. Those states include Oregon, Arizona, Tennessee, Maryland, Rhode Island, Washington, and Connecticut.

However, many say having the option to have Narcan isn't enough because even in states where Narcan is allowed, many schools still don't stock it.

In 2022, students have overdosed and died in schools in Colorado, Connecticut, Nevada and New Jersey.

Despite the grim reality, there is hope, too. A school in Kansas City that carried Narcan was able to save a student's life.

In Boulder, Colorado, Dad Ryan Christoff saw Narcan bring his own teenage daughter back to life.

“Her lips were blue. Her face was kind of a pale green,” recalled Christoff. “I was, you know, shaking her, trying to wake her up, you know, just yelling her name.”

Christoff didn't know Sofia was using drugs, but police used Narcan just in case. It worked.

“I don't look at it like that was the day she overdosed,” said Christoff. “I look at it like that was the day that my daughter was brought back to life."

Christoff is so grateful for his daughter’s second chance and for the fact that Sofia's school is one that now carries Narcan. Christoff is now a community advocate dedicated to getting rid of the stigma around using Narcan and is educating parents and nearby schools.

“We need to face that head-on, with our eyes open and realize, 'OK, people are using drugs and they're dying. Let's start with harm reduction. How can we keep them from dying?'"

The good news, Christoff said, is that help is free. The company that makes Narcan will send any school two boxes of doses at no cost.

Christoff just hopes schools see the value in a simple tool that can have a deep impact on our students.

“I'm positive that by the schools having it, they are going to save a lot of lives,” said Christoff.

Christoff said he is proud of his community for embracing the mission to help save student lives. The school district worked with Boulder County Public Health on this project and involved the entire community.

“Boulder County Public Health works closely with our school districts to reduce overdoses, including training on accessing and administering Naloxone,” said Lexi Nolen, interim executive director. “Taking even one pill can be a fatal mistake if it contains even a small amount of fentanyl, and there is no way to be sure of the pill’s content.”

BCPH recommends following these steps to help prevent overdoses:

• Assume that any pills purchased from a non-pharmacy source may contain a lethal dose of fentanyl and follow all precautions to prevent and respond to an overdose.
• Ensure that you, and those you are with, carry Naloxone and know how to administer it. Naloxone can reverse the effects of opioid overdoses. Fentanyl is stronger and may require additional doses of Naloxone.
• Always call 911 if you suspect someone has overdosed. Colorado has the Good Samaritan Law, and you will not be charged with drug possession in amounts for personal consumption if you call 911 and remain present until help arrives.
• Don’t use alone. If you can’t be with someone else, plan to have someone check in on you so that they can come help you if needed. If you are with someone else who is also going to use, have someone else check in with both of you.
• Start with a small dose every time you have something new. You can always add more, but you cannot subtract.
• Test your drugs using fentanyl strips. However, if it does not alert to fentanyl, it does not mean it is not there. The fentanyl may still be in another untested part of the pill or another unknown synthetic.

Resources:

• Overdose prevention: boco.org/overdose-prevention [boco.org]

• How to dispose of drugs: boco.org/TheWorksProgram [boco.org]

• Talk to a harm reduction specialist: Georgia Babatsikos, 303-441-1100

JOHNSON, Vt. — It's hard for me to express the amount of admiration I have for Dawn and Greg Tatro.

After losing their daughter to an overdose, Dawn and Greg Tatro set out to not only help people in recovery but also change how it's done.

The organization, Jenna's Promise, is named in honor of their daughter.

"One just said to me again tonight, he goes, 'I used to come to Johnson (Vermont) for drugs.' Now, he goes, 'I come to Johnson for recovery.' He goes, 'It's pretty awesome," Dawn said.

The Tatros' dreams of expanding how they help people have expanded over the course of a year. They now have a café that employs their residents and a health center.

"Once you get that veil of addiction off their, off their, face and you see the real person come out, it's incredible," said Greg.

The best part they say is how the town has embraced its residents. By going to the cafe, the people are actively participating in their recovery. It's a true, "It takes a village" mentality, playing out in real-time.

"It's cleaning the town up," said Dawn. "It's helping people and, uh, and it's creating this community."

Will Eberle is the executive director of the Vermont Association of Mental Health and Recovery.

"Unfortunately, we're still tracking at a very high rate of overdose deaths in Vermont. Currently, we have, according to our latest statistics, 151 overdose fatalities in Vermont through August of this year, and around 80% of those have included fentanyl," Eberle said.

There's no national data out yet for 2022, but with the prevalence of fentanyl across the nation, experts like Eberle are expecting it to be another year of tragically high numbers nationwide.

However, just like Dawn and Greg have seen, Will says the good news is that he's seeing less stigma as communities step up.

"Over time, it's starting to become sort of the community's business to work on these things more than the recovery sectors business, which is very heartening to see," he said.

The Tatros and Eberle believe the only way to completely flip the script on addiction and overdose deaths is for everyone to realize they have a role and to invest in the people and the places impacted.

They're hoping next year, even more communities see the value in the people working to make their lives better.

"It seems so simple, but to believe in someone, it's sometimes really what they need," said Dawn.

At age 14, Alexander Neville was still very much a curious kid. He was a Boy Scout who enjoyed getting outdoors and camping. He played with Legos and liked to skateboard. He slept with a stuffed Iron Man figure and still snuggled with a teddy bear he'd had since he was much younger.

But about a year and a half ago, the middle schooler confessed to his parents about a very adult problem: He was experimenting with oxycodone, a prescription painkiller.

He had no idea that the pills he was taking were actually prescription knockoffs laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. Just a few milligrams of fentanyl can be a fatal dose.

One morning in June 2020, his mother, Amy, found him dead in his bedroom.

"I went to his room, and he was blue, just laying on his beanbag chair. Just like he had gone to bed, you know, just like he had fallen asleep there," she said.

Drug deaths more than double

Though still rare, drug deaths among children ages 10 to 14 more than tripled from 2019 to 2020, according to an analysis done for CNN by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Unintentional drug overdoses led to 200,000 years of lost life for U.S. preteens and teens who died between 2015 and 2019, a January study found. And experts suspect that the problem has gotten worse during the pandemic, research shows.

The trend among adolescents follows a wider one.

Annual drug overdose deaths have reached another record high in the United States, with an estimated 104,288 in the 12-month period ending September 2021, according to provisional data published Wednesday by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

That's double the number from six years prior; there were an estimated 52,000 drug overdose deaths annually in September 2015.

The fentanyl factor

Alexander Neville had gone to his parents to ask them for help just two days before he died. He told them he had started on the pills, in large part, because he was curious.

"He said, 'I got to tell you something. I wanted to experiment with oxy -- oxycodone. I looked up how much to take for my size, so I wouldn't get addicted. But it really has got a hold on me. And I don't know why,' " his mother said.

His parents immediately made calls to get him into treatment.

"He really wanted to stop completely," Alexander's father, Aaron, recalled.

Amy remembered, "He wanted to be done. He's like, 'I'm done. I thought this stuff was going to be fun, but it's not.' "

But Alexander took that one last pill, unaware it was actually a deadly fake.

Tests later showed that the pill had enough fentanyl in it to kill at least four people, according to a toxicology report that his parents obtained.

Fentanyl is a drug intended to help people like cancer patients manage severe pain. It's 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. But most overdose deaths aren't from using it legitimately; rather, they are linked to fentanyl made illegally. Four out of every 10 fake pills with fentanyl contain a potentially deadly dose, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Since 2013, a rise in opioid deaths involved illicitly made fentanyl, according to the CDC. The agency says dealers combine it with counterfeit prescription pills, cocaine and heroin.

During the pandemic, the spike in deaths has increased significantly. From May 2020 through April 2021, more than 100,000 people of all ages died from drug overdoses in the US, according to the CDC. That's a record -- a near-30% rise from a year earlier and a near doubling over the past five years. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl accounted for the bulk of those deaths -- around 64,000.

"We're dealing with a different drug threat. Fentanyl has changed the game," DEA Special Agent Robert Murphy said. "I've been in law enforcement my entire adult life -- so it's 31 years now. And I've never seen a threat of the drug threat like the one we're dealing with now. It's frightening."

Social media makes drug deals easy

Social media may also contribute to the problem. Drug dealers no longer have to stand on streetcorners. They can now connect with kids online through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, Murphy said.

Alexander's parents believe that he got his fake pills through Snapchat. Another parent in the area got in touch to tell them that her son died two weeks after Alexander did, and she had screengrabs of a conversation believed to be with a drug dealer through Snapchat. There's still an investigation underway.

"The fentanyl epidemic has had a devastating effect on the lives of too many Americans, and our hearts go out to the families who have suffered unimaginable losses," a Snap spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.

"We share their outrage over how drug dealers have abused online platforms, including Snapchat, and are working tirelessly to eradicate them from our platform. We use tools to proactively detect drug-dealing activity and shut down dealers. To help inform our ongoing strategy and efforts, we work closely with a wide range of experts in counternarcotics, the law enforcement community, and government agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Agency, as well as with families. We are committed to bringing every resource to bear to fight this national crisis both on Snapchat and across the tech industry, particularly by raising awareness about the dangers of counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl."

Buying drugs is as easy as planting a string of emojis on a social media platform to signal the interest in a sale, Murphy said. The DEA says drug traffickers and the criminal networks are there waiting for you.

Dealers may reassure people that their pills are fentanyl-free, but there's no easy way to tell by looking at them, nor is it easy to know how much fentanyl is in them.

"That's why it could be a 'one pill kill,' because we don't know the dose," said Dr. Robert Bassett, assistant associate director of the Poison Control Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "It's like driving at night with your headlights off."

The opioid overdose antidote

Fentanyl has become such a big problem among young people that some schools have started keeping naloxone, an antidote to opioid overdoses that's available under the brand name Narcan, on hand.

Hartford, Connecticut, is one example. In January, a 13-year-old boy died after collapsing in gym class at a Hartford school. Two other seventh-graders were taken to Connecticut Children's for treatment and evaluation. Police found 40 bags of fentanyl at the school and 100 bags in boy's bedroom.

On Tuesday, the American Medical Association encouraged the Biden administration to remove the prescription status of naloxone to make it more easily available over the counter.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have some form of naloxone access laws that allow for the prescribing and dispensing of the treatment to substance users vulnerable to overdose and to nonmedical first responders like family and friends, according to the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association. As of 2020, at least 20 states allow schools to possess naloxone and administer it, but they are not required to do so.

How to get help

Though the experts say there are not enough counselors and treatment programs for preteens and teens, there are treatment programs that work for adolescents.

The first step in successful treatment is recognition. Parents need to stay vigilant for changes in a child's behavior, which may be an early sign that they're using drugs.

The changes can be subtle at first, Bassett said. They may not hang out with the same friends or may stop showing interest in favorite activities. They may be angry or sleep more. But parents need to talk to their kids about it -- even middle schoolers -- and do it more than once.

"This is not a 'one conversation and forget it.' This is something you're going to have to just pound in terms of every night at the kitchen table," Murphy said.

Children's brains aren't fully formed, and their risk-reward centers may not help them make the right choices all the time. "They're the perfect, most vulnerable population," Bassett said.

Bassett recommends that parents check with the National Institute on Drug Abuse for resources. They can also call Poison Control at (800) 222-1222 for free inforrmation.

Medication-assisted treatment is considered more effective than abstinence, Bassett said. Wraparound services, individualized treatment to help the child and family, can include peer counseling and drug rehabilitation. And, Bassett said, it may be important to address underlying issues that lead the child to experiment with the drugs in the first place.

"There may be unmet psychological conditions that force people into self-medicating," Bassett said. "They're just looking not to suffer."

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported a 1,066% increase in the amount of fentanyl seized in fiscal year 2021 in south Texas, the agency said this week in a press release.Agents at eight ports from Brownsville to Del Rio seized 87,652 pounds of narcotics, including 588 pounds of fentanyl, a painkiller, CBP said in the release.The street value of the drugs — which also included marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin — is believed to be $786 million, CBP said.Fentanyl, the deadliest drug in the United States, is 50 times more powerful than heroin and is extremely cheap to produce, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency.Frequently, people buy other drugs not knowing they are laced with fentanyl. Just a quarter of a milligram is enough to kill a person.The U.S. government has seized enough fentanyl this year to give every American a lethal dose, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said at a November White House press briefing. She called the overdose epidemic in the U.S. "a national crisis" that "knows no geographical boundaries, and it continues to get worse."The CBP report covered drugs confiscated during the 2021 fiscal year from Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021.Pandemic might have made America's drug epidemic worseThe U.S. drug epidemic exploded while Americans were locked down during the coronavirus pandemic.From May 2020 through April 2021, more than 100,000 people died from drug overdoses in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's a new record — a near-30% rise from a year earlier and a near doubling over the past five years. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl — 50-100 times more potent than morphine — accounted for the bulk of those deaths, around 64,000.The drug epidemic grew in tandem with the COVID-19 pandemic, which killed about 509,000 people in the same period."In a crisis of this magnitude, those already taking drugs may take higher amounts and those in recovery may relapse. It's a phenomenon we've seen and perhaps could have predicted," Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told CNN in an earlier report.Increasing use of the synthetic drug caught the attention of experts before COVID-19 hit, but the pandemic may have exacerbated the problem, Volkow says.With international travel limited, synthetics that are easier to manufacture and more concentrated were also more efficiently smuggled, she added.Chemicals used to make the drug are often shipped from China to the U.S. or Mexico. Cartels in Mexico smuggle the drugs into the U.S. The drug can be mailed in shipments of less than a kilogram.While a Chinese government crackdown on fentanyl has slowed this method, India is another source."Fentanyl is being mixed in with other illicit drugs to increase the potency of the drug, sold as powders and nasal sprays, and increasingly pressed into pills made to look like legitimate prescription opioids," the DEA's fentanyl report says."Because there is no official oversight or quality control, these counterfeit pills often contain lethal doses of fentanyl, with none of the promised drug," the report says.The Biden administration put $4 billion from the COVID-19 relief package, known as the American Rescue Plan, toward combating overdose deaths, including expanding services for substance use disorder and mental health.Biden told reporters in November his administration is also "working to make health coverage more accessible and affordable for all Americans, so that more people who need care can get it."

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Undercover detective work led to the recovery of various narcotics, a gun and thousands of dollars in cash, the Butler County Sheriff's Office announced Wednesday.

The Butler County Undercover Regional Narcotics task force Tuesday conducted a search warrant at a residence on Sutphin Street in Middletown, according to a news release. The drugs seized included marijuana, dabs -- a highly concentrated marijuana extract -- pressed pills believed to be fentanyl, and associated paraphernalia.

In addition to the drugs, task force officers confiscated $8,000 in cash and a handgun.

Officers detained three individuals in relation to the seizure, one of whom was arrested on outstanding warrants. The release indicated that at least two additional arrests will result, pending lab analysis results.

The Drug Enforcement Administration issued a public safety alert warning of an increase of fake prescription pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine in the United States.

The counterfeit pills are marketed as legitimate prescription pills and are killing Americans at an unprecedented rate, according to the DEA alert. Some of the fake pills contain two milligrams of fentanyl, which is considered a lethal dose.

More than 9.5 million counterfeit pills were seized this year, which is more than the last two years combined. And the pills have been found in every state in the U.S.

The pills are illegally manufactured and are made to look like authentic prescription opioid medications such as oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percocet), hydrocodone (Vicodin) and alprazolam (Xanax); or stimulants like amphetamines (Adderall).

The DEA warns these pills are often sold on social media platforms — making them available to anyone with a smartphone, including minors.

"The United States is facing an unprecedented crisis of overdose deaths fueled by illegally manufactured fentanyl and methamphetamine," Anne Milgram, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said in a news release. "Counterfeit pills that contain these dangerous and extremely addictive drugs are more lethal and more accessible than ever before. In fact, DEA lab analyses reveal that two out of every five fake pills with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose. DEA is focusing resources on taking down the violent drug traffickers causing the greatest harm and posing the greatest threat to the safety and health of Americans. Today, we are alerting the public to this danger so that people have the information they need to protect themselves and their children."

This public safety alert is the first in six years from the DEA.

This alert does not apply to legitimate pharmaceutical medications prescribed by medical professionals and dispensed by licensed pharmacists, the agency said.

County, local and federal law enforcement conducted seven drug raids earlier this month, which led to the seizure of 800 grams of fentanyl, 51 pounds of marijuana and $8,000 in cash.

The Butler County Regional Narcotics task force along with the FBI and local police departments conducted the raids during the early morning hours of June 15. They had search warrants for four locations in Hamilton, one in Oxford, one in Fairfield and one in Middletown, according to a release issued Friday from the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.

Eddie Collins, 31, aka “Big Unk,” was booked into the Butler County Jail on June 15 on suspicion of possession of controlled substances. He also is being held on federal charges, records show.

Anyone who has information on criminal activity involving Collins is urged to call the FBI Cincinnati office at 513-421-4310.