Medetomidine, a nonopioid veterinary sedative, could be overtaking xylazine in the street drug supply. The drug was found in 72% of street samples from Philly last year.
6 months ago
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Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday held up an example of what a typical dose of fentanyl looks like and pledged to "hold accountable the predatory traffickers that are profiting from this death and destruction." (Cory Sharber/WHYY)
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Pennsylvania has seized 50 million doses of fentanyl this year, with nearly 27 million of them coming from the Philadelphia area, according to state Attorney General Dave Sunday.
Sunday was joined on Wednesday by representatives from various law enforcement agencies throughout the region, as well as the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The announcement came less than a week after 33 people were indicted following a drug raid in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood.
“We are here today again, united in a common mission to stop the flow of fentanyl, and to hold accountable the predatory traffickers that are profiting from this death and destruction,” Sunday said. “Fentanyl has replaced heroin as the opioid most commonly found in the commonwealth and it’s not even close. The numbers are absolutely staggering.”
Sunday showed a typical dose of fentanyl, about 2 milligrams, which he estimated sells on the street for around $10.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said that one of the greatest challenges he’s seen is how easily the drug can be distributed, including through the mail.
“It’s coming in at a significant pace. It’s coming in at a pace where folks who are normally not even drug dealers, but it’s so easy to acquire and can easily set up shop,” Bethel said. “You don’t have to be a big drug organization and wait for ‘Mr. Supplier.’ It’s so easy to get this product.”
Nearly 27 million doses have been seized in the Philly area so far this year, according to statistics shared by officials.
A single drug seizure in the 2800 block of North Franklin Street in May resulted in 41 pounds of fentanyl being taken off the streets, Sunday said.
“More than $6 million worth of fentanyl, that’s over 400,000 doses,” he said. “And from that seizure, we were able to determine that 200,000 of those doses were headed across the state to Pittsburgh … People come here to buy drugs from other places, people go to other places to buy drugs, so we can never view it through the lens of one place. We have to attack it holistically, together.”
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, 3,331 drug overdose deaths were reported in 2024 — a 29% decrease from 2023. Of those deaths, nearly 67% involved fentanyl. Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said the fentanyl crisis is “the worst narcotics epidemic this country has ever faced.”
“This is a holistic fight,” Stollsteimer said. “We have to take the supply off, but we also have to work on the demand. We have to make sure that everybody who is suffering from an addiction has a chance to get through into recovery.”
“I had lost a brother five years ago who died at the age of 50 from a drug overdose because he could never find his way to recovery,” he added. “That loss sits with me every single day.”
An estimated 80,391 drug overdose deaths were reported nationwide in 2024, a decrease of 26.9% from 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those deaths, 48,422 were attributed to fentanyl. Annual drug overdose deaths are also projected to reach their lowest level since 2019.
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