The North Louisiana Criminalistic Laboratory found that nearly one in three tablets with legitimate drug imprints bought on the street were counterfeit. Kenton Leigh, the lab’s deputy director of toxicology and chemistry, says it is impossible to tell what a pill contains just by looking at it.
“Whoever is making these drugs are very good at counterfeiting these pills. The stamps look authentic; so you can put a true pharmaceutical next to one of these pills and you probably can’t tell the difference,” Leigh noted.
Leigh says the only way to be certain about the medication is by getting it from a licensed pharmacy with a valid prescription.
Leigh says the most commonly counterfeited pills were Blue M30 tablets.
“Typically, Blue M30s are oxycodone. They’re supposed to be oxycodone. That’s what they’re trying to show that they are. But instead, most of the time right now, it’s counterfeit, it’s fentanyl,” Leigh explained.
Counterfeit pills have been found throughout the 29 parishes the lab services in North Louisiana. Fentanyl was the most common substance found in the fake pills. Leigh says any pill obtained outside of a pharmacy should be considered lethal.
“People don’t know what they’re taking; someone who is an addict of oxycodone might take three or four at a time. But if that’s fentanyl, then that could mean an overdose or worse,” Leigh said.