As If "Real" Pills Aren't Bad Enough, Cordova Cops Warn Of Deadlier Fentanyl Lookalikes

NEWS FROM DOWNRIVER

City of Cordova Warns Citizens That Cheap, Fake Opioids Have Arrived 

Counterfeit fentanyl-laced lookalike pills. (Photo, DEA) 

It's Hard To Tell The Difference Between Dangerous Oxycodone & Even More Deadly Counterfeit Pills 

August 22nd 2021

The city of Cordova, at the mouth of the Copper River delta downriver from the Copper Valley, put out a warning on August 11th. Oxycodone, which is bad enough, has been displaced by deadlier Fentanyl pills, which are now in Alaska. 

The Cordova Police Department says they discovered the fake lookalike drugs while investigating a recent deadly overdose there. They said the pills have been made to look like oxycodone. 

Oxycodone is very dangerous, too. Regular prescription overdoses can kill you, and Copper Valley people are grappling with opioid overdoses. But these pills are even worse. 

(For insight into opioid issues in the Copper Valley, see the story in the Journal about the efforts of CRNA and Cross Road to help locals with counseling and NARCAN nasal spray, an overdose antidote.) 

Cordova's issues are probably similar to dangers in our region. Cordova is a very small incorporated Alaska Home Rule city with a population base that's around 300 fewer people than the Copper River Valley. The Copper River census of 2020 says that 2,699 people live in the upper Copper Valley. The city of Cordova says on its website that 2,316 people live there. 

Working with the state's Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, the Cordova Police released a warning about the phony pills, which are apparently cheaper than oxycodone, and are sinisterly deliberately made to look exactly the same. 

Fake fentanyl is a national danger. The counterfeit drugs have been around awhile. 

As long ago as June, 2018, an Indiana mother was interviewed after her 24-year old daughter lost her life to the counterfeit pills. In October 2020, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics reported that fake oxycodone pills killed ten people in only five months. In April, 2020, fifteen people overdosed on counterfeit oxycodone, as deaths from the drug spiked in Santa Clara County... and the list goes on, with the people of Alaska now targeted.

NOTE:  Don't call the Cordova city cops if you find these pills circulating through the upper Copper Valley. Call 911 instead.