Oregon State Police released this photo of fentanyl pills seized after a traffic stop in Linn County.
The news in Oregon has been full of reports on the fatal dangers of the illegal use of fentanyl, but I had never seen a picture of what a fentanyl pill looks like.
That changed Thursday when the Oregon State Police issued a press release on an incident that happened on Interstate 5 in Linn County on Feb. 16.
On that date two weeks ago, OSP said, a trooper made a traffic stop on the freeway at milepost 219. A police dog was called in, and a seach of the vehicle yielded 10,000 fentanyl pills and four pounds of fentanyl powder, along with small amounts of other controlled substances.
Two young men from California, the 18-year-old driver and 20-year-old passenger, were arrested on a series of charges and booked at the Linn County Jail, where on Thursday they remained.
Fentanyl is an opioid narcotic that may be prescribed as a painkiller. It is highly addictive, and taken illegally it can cause respiratory distress and death. Oregon has seen a distressingly high number of fatal overdoses.
OSP sent along photos of the pills and the packaged powder seized from the car on I-5. I’m passing along the photo of the pills, in case anyone else out there, other than me, needs to learn what they look like so they don’t take one by mistake. (hh)
Lovastatin, which is an older, not high-powered, low dose of cholesterol medicine, is the same color!!! God! Not what I wanted to find out!
Illegal fentanyl tablets, while usually blue, can also be pink, purple, yellow, green, red, aqua, fuchsia, or white. In addition to tablets with the “M 30” inscription, it may be formed to look like other non-fentanyl tablets. It can also be in a powder, or pressed together in sticks similar to sidewalk chalk. You can’t always distinguish the illegal tablets from the real ones, even side by side. I googled images of “illegal fentanyl” and looked at photos from several news websites.
So will they be turned over to ICE if they are illegal?
Gosh…I could have given you a picture of one years ago!
By the way- mine are legal, and prescribed by a doctor, provided thru a pharmacy, and are taken for severe back pain. Fentanyl is also dispensed thru patches worn on the skin. No need to report me!