DEA in NH warns parents that ‘one pill can kill’

As students head back to school in a few weeks, experts are warning parents to pay close attention to what their kids are doing and seeing on their phones and online.

Drug dealers are selling fake prescription pills that often contain the deadly synthetic drugs fentanyl and methamphetamine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. They use social media and apps to sell their products, and use emojis — like those hearts and clovers — to let customers know what’s available.

That poses an entirely new kind of danger for young people today, according to Paul Spera, DEA’s assistant special agent in charge for New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont.

“Children should learn from their mistakes, not die from them,” Spera said.

It’s something he heard his predecessor in the job, Jon DeLena, say a lot.

“You cannot buy a legitimate pharmaceutical drug on social media,” Spera said. “Undoubtedly it’s going to contain an illicit drug, mostly likely fentanyl or methamphetamine.”

Precursor chemicals from China are shipped to labs in Mexico, “where they’re producing fentanyl and methamphetamine, synthetic drugs, at an unprecedented rate and then bringing this into our country,” he said.

Those labs manufacture pills made to look like prescription drugs, such as Adderall, Percocet and Oxycontin, Spera said.

That makes it more likely that young people will try these drugs rather than something that must be snorted or injected, he said. “Because as a society, there’s no stigma to taking pills,” he said. “We’ve been taking pills since we were children.”

Unsuspecting users who think they’re using something less harmful soon can find themselves addicted to a synthetic opioid, he said, because, “That’s their business model.”

“You have cartels and drug trafficking organizations that are deceptively and calculatingly trying to trick us into taking drugs, to create addiction and make money,” he said. “They are taking things that as a culture we have deemed acceptable, and turned them into a deadly substance.”

That’s why the DEA created its “One Pill Can Kill” campaign, letting teens, parents, teachers and other caregivers know what kids may be exposed to (dea.gov/onepill).

In 2022, the DEA seized more than 58.3 million fentanyl-laced fake pills. Six of 10 pills analyzed by the DEA lab contained a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl, according to dea.gov.

It’s not just fentanyl. “Meth is here now,” Spera said.

Methamphetamine users often don’t eat or sleep, which can induce paranoia and hallucinations. That has led to an upsurge in violence and crime, Spera said.

A few weeks ago, DEA agents seized 25 pounds of methamphetamine, the largest seizure of the drug in New Hampshire.

The cartels’ switch from plant-based drugs to synthetic drugs changed everything, Spera said. “We went from something that is finite, which is dependent on rain and wind and workers and crops, to something that is infinite,” he said. “It will never end.

“When you have that amount of supply and your whole goal is financial gain, you will do anything you can to create more demand,” he said. “The creation of demand is what we’re seeing here.”

Here’s what Spera wants parents and teens to understand: “These drug dealers, they’re trying to trick you and get you addicted,” he said. “Unless it’s coming from your doctor or pharmacy, you cannot be taking any of these types of pills.”

Meanwhile, social media has made drug-dealing easier, Spera said. “It’s created anonymity,” he said.

“The days of a drug dealer standing on a street corner are over,” he said. “You have social media platforms which are actively selling fake pills.”

Dealers also use applications such as Snapchat to send out messages about what’s available, using emojis to represent different drugs. Snapchat messages disappear in 24 hours.

That makes it more difficult for law enforcement agencies investigating fatal overdoses to find those responsible and hold them accountable, Spera said.

“It makes preservation of evidence really, really difficult,” he said. “Because it disappears.”

DEA agent Spera’s message to parents: Do your homework, learn what’s out there, and then talk with your kids.

“Have the conversation earlier than you may think,” he said. “It might surprise you how much knowledge they have, about peers who are potentially using drugs or experimenting with drugs.”

Help your children create strategies to get themselves out of risky situations, Spera advised. And keep a close eye on what your kids are exposed to — including monitoring their phones and computers.

That’s also the advice from Vicki Harris, coordinator for Dover Youth 2 Youth, an after-school group for middle and high school students that focuses on peer-to-peer prevention of substance misuse. A program of the Dover Police Department, it’s been around for more than 30 years.

Harris also said that parents need to talk about the dangers of drugs and social media with their kids when they’re young: “Making it a regular conversation so we’re not sitting down and having that ‘big talk’ when there’s a problem.”

Harris said she already talks with her 5-year-old about “safe medications” — and never taking something prescribed for someone else.

“Not only are you clearly laying out what your expectations are and what your family rules are around these issues, but you’re also opening that door where if your teenager has a question, they feel like they can talk to you.” she said.

Harris said it’s important for parents to be aware of how their children’s lives intersect with technology. She said parents can install monitoring apps on their youngsters’ phones and limit what apps the kids can put on their phones and tablets.

They also need to know their kids’ passwords, Harris said, “so that they can go in and occasionally check and see what is my kid seeing on this social media platform, who are their friends, and what are they being exposed to.

“As parents, it’s our job to make sure that we’re setting those boundaries and that we’re limiting access to sites or programs that we don’t feel they should have access to,” Harris said. “That’s going to be different for every parent, but as a parent, we need to set those boundaries.”

Harris likes to point out that “the overwhelming majority of middle and high school students are not engaging in these risky behaviors.”

Student surveys done by her group show that young people are more influenced by their parents’ perceived disapproval than that of their peers. “Oftentimes as parents, we don’t fully understand the influence we have on our kids’ decision-making,” she said. “It really goes back to setting those family rules, and having those conversations.

“I think parents need to know that they can make a difference.”

DEA agent Spera said enforcement is still key for his agency, “but we realize we cannot arrest our way out of this problem.”

That’s why he’s passionate about working with community organizations on prevention. “If you can prevent someone from using drugs, it’s so much easier than trying to rehabilitate someone who has had a substance use issue,” he said.

Spera, who has worked for the DEA for 18 years, took the New England job in January after DeLena was tapped to become an assistant administrator at the agency’s headquarters.

In the short time he has been in New Hampshire, he’s been impressed with how seriously communities here take this issue, Spera said. “I have been blown away by the attention, resources and passion that the stakeholders and the communities in New Hampshire have displayed in trying to combat this scourge,” he said.

“I believe partnering with people who have a voice — a stronger voice and a more powerful voice than us — is what is going to deter people,” he said.

“That’s what gives me hope.”

As the mother of two boys, ages 2 and 5, what does Dover Youth 2 Youth’s Harris fear most?

“I think a lot of it’s the unknown,” she said. “Things are constantly changing, and it’s hard for parents to keep up with the latest technology.

“My son’s going to kindergarten this year, so he’s going to be out of the house the majority of the day and being around peers. And I don’t know what those peers are going to be telling him or teaching him or exposing him to.”

In his work for the DEA, Spera has spent time with parents who have lost children to overdoses. Invariably they told him, “I never thought it would happen to me.’”

But, he said, “It can happen to anyone. Fentanyl does not discriminate.”

At DEA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, a wall is dedicated to the names and photographs of those lost to fentanyl overdoses. More than 5,000 “Faces of Fentanyl” have been sent in by grieving loved ones — including those of children exposed to the deadly drug.

Serenity Faith was just 17 months old when she got into an adult’s drug supply.

A baby boy named Isaac lived just “11 minutes.”

And one child on the wall, Jaxsen, is listed as “forever unborn.”