Trying to interrupt the flow of illegal fentanyl and its close cousins is complicated, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Fentanyl laced prescription drug lookalikes are implicated in recent increases in drug overdose deaths among those 65+, federal data reveal. Eric Strain, a substance use disorders expert at Johns Hopkins, says a multitude of paths must be followed to curb their manufacture.

Strain: Illicit fentanyl is really hard because you can’t just say well we’re going to take away the license of the illicit lab that’s making it. Methamphetamine also falls into this category. Methamphetamine and fentanyl are relatively easy to make. We’re no longer in the situation where you need to grow poppies in some other country and figure out how to get them here. All you need to do now is find an industrial park where you can rent space to make into a lab and purchase the supplies to make methamphetamine or fentanyl.  :33

Strain says the only prescription drugs you should take are those that come from a reputable source. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.