Drug Enforcement Administration and Kansas law enforcement partners have joined together to find drug traffickers behind overdoses. The One Pill Can Initiative aims to reduce the supply of deadly counterfeit fentanyl pills.
The Drug Enforcement Administration St. Louis Division announced Fridayday an intelligence data-driven operation with local law enforcement partners in northeast Kansas to address the alarming increase in overdose events caused by counterfeit pills with fentanyl.
Statistics collected about overdoses and overdose deaths in the region indicated shortcomings in pursuing counterfeit pills and fentanyl investigations. The Northeast Kansas One Pill Can Kill Initiative aims to gather data from these overdose events to help combat the drug trafficking organizations operating in the area.
“Kansas hasn’t escaped the deadly impact counterfeit pills are having on communities nationwide,” said Special Agent in Charge Michael A. Davis, head of the DEA division that includes the states of Kansas and Missouri. “Unfortunately, rural police departments often don’t have the manpower or resources to investigate overdoses. Working together by sharing intelligence gathered by law enforcement officers, though, will help us target and arrest the people distributing these deadly fake pills.”
Some of the many participating agencies in the initiative include the Junction City Police Department, Geary County Sheriff's Office, Riley County Police Department, Kansas State University, Pottawatomie County Sheriff's Office, Wamego Police Department, Dickinson County Sheriff's Office and the Kansas Highway Patrol.
In addition to targeting the drug trafficking networks behind overdose events, DEA and its partners hope to reduce the demand for these illegal drugs through community awareness of the danger.