The Silent Battlefield: Synthetic Opioids Hidden in THC Vapes

• By: Lucas A. Trautman, MD, MPH Oxford Treatment Center
• October 31st, 2025
• drug trafficking, law enforcement, overdose crisis, prevention and awareness, public health, synthetic opioids, vaping, youth drug use
• 272    0

The overdose crisis has always been a war, but the battlefield keeps shifting. Today, the weapon isn’t a needle or a powder bag. It’s a vape pen—sleek, pocket-sized, sold at a gas station counter, and marketed as harmless cannabis. In reality, these cartridges are Trojan horses carrying...

U.S. Law Enforcement Seizures of Pills Containing Fentanyl Increased Dramatically Between 2018-2021

• By: The National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• July 14th, 2022
• drug seizures, drug trafficking, fentanyl, illegal drugs, law enforcement, narcotics, opioid epidemic, overdose, Summer 2022 Issue, synthetic opioids
• 1389    0

Law enforcement seizures of pills containing illicit fentanyl increased dramatically between January 2018 and December 2021, according to a new study. The number of individual pills seized by law enforcement increased nearly 50-fold from the first quarter of 2018 to the last quarter of 2021 and the...