Could mass dispensary closings worsen the fentanyl crisis? Experts warn that the environment creates a “hotbed” for counterfeit pills

Experts warn that mass pharmacy closures could expose more people to counterfeit pills containing potentially deadly substances.

Roei Ganzarski, who runs a company that detects counterfeit drugs, said many patients are now being forced to fill their prescriptions online.

This creates a “breeding ground” for counterfeit pills, he said, as it increases the risk of patients turning to cheaper third-party websites that sell pills containing “life-threatening substances”. This includes fentanyl, a drug that kills tens of thousands of Americans each year through accidental overdoses.

Major drugstore chains, including Rite Aid and CVS, are closing more than 1,500 stores across the U.S., mostly in low-income and rural areas, leaving millions of Americans in “pharmacy deserts.”

Rite Aid plans to close 150 of its 2,100 US locations after the drugstore chain filed for bankruptcy earlier this month (pictured is a California Rite Aid store before closing).

Mr. Ganzarski, director of Washington-based health technology company Alitheon, told Fox News, “When you’re working digitally, you just don’t know who you’re ordering from or what you’re actually getting — and yet you know you don’t know.” put it in your body.”

Roei Ganzarski, who runs a company that detects counterfeit drugs, says many patients are now forced to fill their prescriptions online

“Patients may think, ‘Oh, look, I can buy it from this company in Canada or Taiwan and it will be cheaper.

“They might not even know who it is, but yes, it has the name of their drug on it and it’s a lot cheaper.”

He added: “Bad actors can get their hands on leftover old pills that should have been destroyed or thrown away, and then change the date and send them out.”

‘[Patients could also receive pills where] there is literally nothing. “You just take a pill that’s a placebo, and then you don’t understand why you don’t feel better.”

He said it’s safe to buy online from major drugstores like CVS and Walgreens or from local pharmacies.

However, there are concerns about third-party pharmacies that are not based in the US, he said.

Overdose deaths from cocaine and meth containing fentanyl have increased 50-fold since 2010

The number of fentanyl overdoses, which also involve the use of strong stimulants, has increased so rapidly over the years that addiction experts call it the “fourth wave” of the devastating opioid crisis.

Authorities are working to take down fraudulent websites, but new sites selling the drugs can easily be set up.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that the number of overdoses caused by counterfeit pills more than doubled between the third quarter of 2019 and the fourth quarter of 2021, from two percent to 4.7 percent.

America’s overdose death crisis is caused by fentanyl, which accounts for eight out of 10 deaths and is added to drugs by illegal manufacturers to give users a more intense high.

However, even in small amounts, this drug can be fatal because many users do not know that their medication contains this substance.

There are now fears that counterfeit pills sold in pharmacies could unknowingly expose more people to the drug, further increasing the overdose death toll.

Rite Aid plans to close 150 of its 2,100 stores in the US after the drugstore chain filed for bankruptcy earlier this month.

The company has failed to resolve hundreds of opioid overprescription lawsuits and has struggled to keep up with competitors.

CVS will close 900 stores, 10 percent of all stores, by the end of 2024 as part of its online strategy.

And Walgreens is also poised to close 150 stores by summer 2024 as the company sees lower revenue due to falling demand for Covid vaccines and testing.

A number of drugstore chains that have downsized their locations have left millions of people living in areas where medication is hard to come by, areas known as pharmacy deserts, according to JAMA.

“Our estimates are that about one out of every four neighborhoods across the country is a pharmacy desert,” Dima Qato, an associate professor at the University of Southern California, told the Washington Post:

“These closings have a disproportionate impact on communities that need pharmacies the most.”

Figures show America continues to face an overdose crisis, with more than 10,000 people dying from overdoses each month.

The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that an estimated 112,000 people died from an overdose in the year ending May 2023, slightly higher than the previous month’s estimate.

That equated to nearly 10,000 deaths a month, and experts warned that it was crashing and burning like a plane full of Americans almost every day.

The cause of the overdose crisis is fentanyl, which is responsible for about eight out of ten overdose deaths. This drug is hundreds of times more powerful than morphine, but can be fatal even in very small doses.