NEW ORLEANS — A local coroner agrees with higher penalties for people who sell counterfeit pills.
“The people that are selling these drugs should know they're selling fentanyl, because what they're buying is so cheap,” said Jefferson Parish coroner Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich.
Two more families are mourning the loss of two young loved ones from street drugs with fentanyl.
And two people are under arrest, facing second degree murder charges for their deaths.
We are learning that there are some who don't believe deaths like these are accidental, or considered to be overdoses, but rather poisonings.
Louisiana has one of the highest per capita overdose rates in the nation, number 11 overall.
And the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl being smuggled over the southern border in record numbers, is increasingly taking lives here at home.
And it's mostly being disguised as pills like Adderall, Vicodin, Percocet and Xanax, but it's also in other drugs.
It happened to 18-year-old Hailey Deickman of Belle Chasse, and a father desperately tried to save his daughter days away from high school graduation using CPR.
And it happened to Cameron Landry, only 22-years-old of Slidell.
“It’s hard seeing someone you grew up with just pass away so unexpectedly," said Landry’s cousin, Madison Waggoner through tears. "A week ago we were celebrating 4th of July, and then I got a call saying my cousin passed away and it’s been so hard. Our family has been so devastated.”
With each promising life gone in an instant, and parents left with a lifetime of devastating pain, authorities from drug enforcement agents to coroners have been publicly and repeatedly sounding the alarm.
“We are seeing that one in four pills, counterfeit pills, that we're seizing, has a lethal dose of fentanyl," said Brad Byerley, the SAC of the DEA New Orleans Field Office. "So, the saying goes, ‘One pill can kill,’ really is true here."
“I speak about it everywhere I go, and try to warn people don't go near that," said Dr. Dwight McKenna, Orleans Parish coroner. "This medication, it's deadly. We're going to have you on the slab in our coroner's office."
"Even cocaine that's bought on the street now is counterfeit. It's a mixture of fentanyl and methamphetamine powdered, and sold as cocaine,” Dr. Cvitanovich said.
And over the last few years, the Jefferson Parish coroner's office has recommended that certain dealers of counterfeit pills get stiff charges.
When asked if he agreed with trying people or charging them with second degree murder, Dr. Cvitanovich, replied, “Absolutely, because these are technically poisonings, not overdoses.”
And it's not only counterfeit pills and powders. He is seeing pot tainted with the deadly fentanyl as well.
Dr. Cvitanovich believes the people selling the pills know they are not the real ones for two reasons.
First, it is so much cheaper than the prescription medication, and second, because of controls on scheduled medications, the real ones would not be so easy to get.
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