This article first appeared in The Blues Magazine.
Fentanyl cocktails are dragging America into the fourth wave of the overdose epidemic.
American law enforcement is entering the fourth, more challenging wave of the overdose epidemic as a broad range of new polysubstance synthetic drugs hits the streets.
Polysubstance drugs are cocktails of various stimulants, opioids, sedatives, and narcotics blended into a single dose. Their increasing popularity stems from the promise of enhanced euphoric experiences that last longer; however, this comes with increased risk because a key ingredient in most cocktails is fentanyl.
Importantly, additional obstacles now confront law enforcement officers as it is difficult to identify the novel active synthetic components in new narcotic cocktails.
Official statistics show that 30% of all fatal drug overdoses in America since 1999 occurred in the last three years, with over 100,000 deaths each year (2021 - 2023). Fentanyl played a role in over 70% of these fatalities, representing the peak of the third wave of the overdose epidemic. Worse yet, fentanyl is often mixed with other dangerous substances, such as xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer, and recently, BTMPS, an industrial chemical commonly added to plastic to provide protection against ultraviolet rays.
Mix and match for greater profits
Domestic narcotic gangs are only too happy to promote this new wave of substance abuse as most of these cocktails’ ingredients are made from synthetic opioids, which are relatively simple to manufacture domestically at a low cost. Producing synthetic drugs requires no organic material that must be grown, harvested, and transported before being treated with chemicals to create the final narcotic. A small kitchen can be used to make deadly quantities with minimal risk for the ‘manufacturers.’
Moreover, with the capabilities that artificial intelligence (AI) systems demonstrate today, an AI system can take the molecular structure of fentanyl and produce numerous analogs in record time. Drug analogs are variations of the original drug (in this case, fentanyl), made by tweaking the chemical structure to change the potency and/or the effects of the substance.
Some common fentanyl analogs found in America include acetylfentanyl, butyrylfentanyl, cyclopropylfentanyl, and fluorofentanyl. Each analog has its own chemical makeup, making it harder for law enforcement to identify without sending it to a laboratory—a lengthy process which drags out the investigation and prosecution of suspects.
While mixing precursors and producing the final product can be done in apartments or rented houses without anyone being the wiser, we should not expect to see the end to the deadly influence of the South American drug cartels. The cartels are still active in mass-producing narcotics, from heroin to fentanyl, as well as setting themselves up as a cheap source of precursors, situated just below the southern border.
This is their strength because they can easily import large amounts of precursors due to the compromised nature of the Mexican government. Additionally, moving bulk shipments of fentanyl into America is relatively easy due to the disarray on the southern border.
A small business dream
The manufacture of small quantities is easier, as is obtaining traditional narcotics or stimulants. This has changed the nature of illicit drug sales, making dealing a viable and profitable small or sideline business. Mom-and-pop drug operations can make a good living selling their cocktails from their respectable homes in the suburbs, even using suppliers in China or India to send precursor chemicals in small quantities via next-day courier delivery.
The conventional method of city drug sales was to have a ‘corner boy’ loitering on a street corner, usually a juvenile, who acts as an intermediary between the supplier and buyer. The benefit of this approach was that if the youngster was caught with the drugs, their youth would ensure they were not prosecuted, or if they were, a light sentence would be the norm.
In the inner cities with less affluent populations, the corner boy is still a reality as it is the simplest way for people to buy and sell drugs. However, drug sales are evolving as more people adopt mobile technology. In today’s digitized society, home delivery of your drug of choice is as easy as ordering a pizza. Deals can even be completed on social media chat applications, with some communicating only using emojis. Payments are made over common mobile payment platforms or via cryptocurrency.
Investigators had an easier time unraveling drug networks with corner boys in operation as they had a place to start and could piece together the setup through investigation, observation, and informants. With digital deals on social media apps, the network and the money trail are hard to trace without a wiretap warrant, and authorities first need evidence before they can obtain one. Even after an arrest, examining the apps and transactions on a suspect's smartphone is almost impossible without the assistance of technically skilled personnel and advanced software tools. Even if these are available, cryptocurrency and encrypted communications make putting the pieces together a complex task.
A glaring example of the growing opioid 'side hustle' occurred in 2023 with the arrest and prosecution of the executive director of the San Jose Police Officers' Association on charges of illegally importing synthetic opioids into the United States. This individual first came to the attention of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in 2019.
Presumptive analysis challenges
Mixing small quantities of drugs in a cocktail makes it harder for officers to identify a suspicious substance when legally searching a premises, vehicle, or person. In the past, colorimetric tests were among the tools officers carried to presumptively identify substances such as heroin to effect an arrest, before sending the substance to state laboratories for more accurate testing.
These tests are no longer sufficient because of the varied components included in polysubstances, which make it difficult to isolate a known narcotic. Additionally, the false positive rate of colorimetric tests makes relying on these solutions risky.
Law enforcement, therefore, requires a better approach to detect small quantities of illicit drugs and differentiate between the various substances in polysubstance cocktails. One option is Raman Spectroscopy, which detects the interaction of a laser light with matter (the suspicious material), generating a unique chemical fingerprint to compare to a database of known substances.
The Scientific Working Group for the Analysis of Seized Drugs (SWGDRUG), responsible for supporting the development of recommended standards, techniques, protocols, and policies for the forensic examination of seized drugs, recognizes Raman Spectroscopy as one of the Class A analytical techniques for presumptive field testing. It has become one of the standard and most reliable methodologies for inspecting drugs and helping conduct probable cause searches and seizures.
Due to the relative ease with which one can produce synthetic opioids, the ability to detect precursors is also critical in contributing to probable cause. However, while the essential precursors generally need to be imported from Mexico, China, or other countries, certain secondary precursors are legally available at local hardware stores. With the proper knowledge, secondary precursors can be used to produce essential precursors of acceptable quality, which end up in polysubstance cocktails.
Consequently, homemade cocktails are more challenging to identify in the field as the chemical structures won’t match the exact structure expected by testing solutions. Raman Spectroscopy is a practical answer in this situation, as officers can obtain accurate readings from a wide variety of chemicals.
Avoid accidental exposure and save lives
Another benefit of Raman Spectroscopy is that it helps officers manage their personal risks while on duty by protecting them from accidental exposure, which is critical with more potent drugs in circulation. Using Raman Spectroscopy, officers can test suspicious substances in a clear bag without opening it and exposing themselves. Even material in colored bags can be tested, although opaque bags cannot.
When officers can accurately identify harmful chemicals, they can also inform first responders about the potential risks they face when assisting people who may be injured or overdosing. Knowing what the person has taken helps first responders treat their patient effectively and can empower hospitals to administer life-saving medication as soon as they arrive instead of first waiting for a toxicology report.
Synthetic revolution in the suburbs
As America enters the fourth wave of the overdose epidemic, law enforcement needs better tools to presumptively identify dangerous substances on the scene in real time. Officers need to know what they are dealing with immediately, empowering them to take the appropriate action.
The fourth wave will not only impact the inner cities. It will hit inner cities hard, as did heroin and fentanyl, but the distributed nature of polysubstance abuse will make it easy and cheap to distribute and buy your drug cocktail of choice and have it delivered to your home in an hour or two. What exactly is in the substance delivered will only become apparent once the substance is used, which may be too late.
If law enforcement is not adequately equipped and prepared with information and reliable presumptive analysis capabilities, the fourth wave of America's overdose epidemic will rapidly expand. There won’t be a ‘safe’ class of people as the drug cartels and gangs look to increase addiction rates in all their customers and grow their businesses and profits. Law enforcement's role as a protective barrier to even more deaths and the negative societal consequences of addiction is more critical than ever, and officers need the tools and political backing to support them in this goal.
Views expressed in this interview are opinions of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Rigaku Analytical Devices.
