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(NewsNation) — Most of the fentanyl police recover now comes in pill form, a cheaper option for dealers to deliver stronger highs, often unbeknownst to those taking the substance, authorities warn.
Illicit fentanyl can look like prescription pills, including Adderall, Xanax or Percocet. Law enforcement says that more people are unknowingly taking fentanyl, sometimes dying of overdoses.
Tom Quehl is the co-founder of the Jack Quehl Foundation and the father to Jack Quehl, who died of fentanyl poisoning in 2021. Jack Quehl was 24 years old. He and his wife, Stephanie Quehl, now share Jack’s story and others’ to raise awareness.
“With the shortage of Adderall and Xanax out there, they’re trying to fight depression or ADHD, and they’re reaching out to the street, and they’re finding drugs that are laced with fentanyl,” Tom Quehl said. “And if it’s not killing them … they’re getting something that has a different taste to it, and now they become an addict and a regular customer. And that spiral is something I don’t want to see.”
Many local organizations distribute fentanyl test strips that can save lives by identifying the presence of fentanyl in a substance within two to five minutes.
Tom Quehl said the foundation has had to pivot its approach to talking about fentanyl with the public, as it is increasingly found mixed with other drugs.
‘”We started early in 2023 because then, six out of 10 pills on the street were laced with fentanyl, now it’s seven out of 10. … So that conversation needs to be had,” he said.
Jack Quehl loved books and sports, especially football, his family said. He graduated from the University of Southern California in May 2020 and moved from Ohio to Baltimore the following summer.
On Sept. 19, 2021, shortly after Jack’s move, his parents received a phone call that changed their lives. Jack’s roommates found him unresponsive on the apartment porch. When they arrived at the University of Maryland Medical Center, he had less than a 1% chance of surviving.
He died early the next morning.
Jack’s parents say he used cocaine that, unknown to him, had been cut with fentanyl. He was not a habitual drug user, Tom Quehl added.
“He made one bad choice that cost he and another friend his life,” Tom Quehl said.
Securing the nation’s border, he added, should be a main goal in stemming the flow of illicit fentanyl into the United States, he said.
“We try to stay politically neutral on this because I don’t consider this a red or blue problem,” he said. I think it’s every American’s problem. … I’d love to see legislation that allows our local and state government officials and police (to work) hand-in-hand with Border Patrol to help them and alleviate the problem.”