DETROIT – Officials with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said meth has made a major comeback in Metro Detroit. They said there’s more of it and it looks different than before.
Officials said meth mixed with fentanyl is being put in pills that look like oxycodone. Just one pill can kill someone.
The Local 4 Defenders have been tracking the return of meth in Metro Detroit for more than a year. Last spring, Terrance Patterson was caught and convicted after sending his son to Tennessee with $35,000.
His son was caught with 15 pounds of meth on I-75, the major pipeline of meth into Michigan. The Detroit region DEA is seeing the most deadly form of meth flooding the area.
They are making record busts of pills that look exactly like Xanax, Adderall, Vicodin, and more. Instead, the drugs are made from chemicals sent from China and produced in Mexico.
Special Agent in Charge Keith Martin said a massive 2,200 pounds of meth has been seized in the Metro Detroit area this year. That’s more than they’ve seen in the last five years. There are no meth labs and it’s very little crystal meth that they’ve been seeing. It’s the counterfeit pills that are the concern.
Around 42% of the pills seized so far are a mix of meth and fentanyl. The DEA said the meth and fentanyl pills are in the suburbs and in Detroit and that the fear of overdose deaths is a major concern.