PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — State and city authorities announced that they have taken 50 million doses of fentanyl off Pennsylvania streets so far this year as they continue to fight the scourge of opioids.
Of that milestone total, nearly 27 million doses were seized in the greater Philadelphia area, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday.
“Any one of those 50 million doses could have killed someone,” Sunday said alongside county district attorneys and top police brass on Wednesday.
Through drug investigations and operation takedowns — including a federal indictment announced last week of a massive Kensington drug operation — they have seized more than 100,000 grams of fentanyl.
“That’s more than 220 pounds of fentanyl through September of this year,” he added.
Fentanyl is a powder substance that is much cheaper to buy and simpler to make than heroin. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel, who worked in narcotics for years, said there’s less processing involved in making fentanyl — and, it’s being shipped from China.
“You don’t have to be a big drug organization and wait for Mr. Supplier,” he said. “It is so easy to get this product. It makes it very difficult for us at multiple levels.”
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer applauded the efforts of all law enforcement, from the feds to local police departments, fighting the opioid problem.
“Upward of 70,000 people die every single year because of fentanyl,” he said. “I had lost a brother five years ago, who died at the age of 50 of a drug overdose because he could not find his way to recovery. That loss sits with me every day.”
While the officials acknowledged they can’t “arrest their way out” of the opioid crisis, they said they will continue their crackdown on those who feed addiction to make money.