COLUMBUS, Ohio — A new initiative by the Drug Enforcement Administration, "One Pill Can Kill," is revealing how drug networks appear to be flooding the U.S. with deadly fentanyl.
In Franklin County alone, overdose deaths from fentanyl increased by 13% between 2017 and 2021, according to the coroner’s office.
This past spring, the accidental overdose deaths of two students who attended The Ohio State University put the issue of fentanyl use among college students in the spotlight.
Now that students are back on campus for the fall semester, the university has introduced a new drug and alcohol prevention program to promote health and safety in the college community.
Hundreds of families are impacted by fentanyl deaths in Ohio each year.
Anthony Lafferty has experienced the grief associated with losing someone to an overdose after his son, TJ, overdosed on fentanyl in 2021.
“Everyone out here is gambling,” said Lafferty. “It's not worth it. It's not worth the chance.”
Anthony and Jeannie Lafferty's son, TJ, was the life of the party.
“He'd come up and he'd just joke with you, constantly. It didn't matter if he was sad, glad. He was there. He made you happy,” said Jeannie.
While he was known for occasionally smoking marijuana while with friends, his parents say the 31-year-old would never try fentanyl.
“They found over 2000 milligrams of fentanyl in him,” said Anthony.
Michelle Spahn, the assistant special agent in charge of the Columbus District’s Office of the DEA said that four of the 10 pills that they seize and are submitted to the lab for testing contain a lethal dose of fentanyl.
The DEA warns that cartels are lacing some pills like Adderall and Percocet with fentanyl, all in hopes of hooking young adults.
Many students in college may think they are taking a harmless pill to help them study, but even one pill can be deadly.
Back in May, Columbus Public Health and Ohio State safety officials issued warnings about possible Adderall pills laced with fentanyl on campus. That same week police were called to a home on East Lane Avenue after someone called 911 claiming her roommates were overdosing.
“I just came downstairs and one of my roommates and two of her friends are passed out,” the caller told dispatchers.
Tiffany Iler, 21, and Jessica Lopez, 22, both died of fentanyl overdoses in that incident.
They were two of 17 suspected overdoses that happened that day in Franklin County.
Iler's dad opened up about his daughter's death in July.
“She took her last breath and that was it. I never thought I'd see my daughter take her last breath. I thought she'd bury me,” Rich Iler explained.
Rich Iler said he didn't know there was a fentanyl problem.
"That's not the world I live in. That's not the world she lived in,” he said.
It's a world the DEA said everyone needs to be aware of today.
“That's why it's important for parents to have the conversation with kids not to purchase anything on the street because you don't know what it is. It's like playing Russian Roulette,” Spahn said.
Spahn explained that the DEA confiscated enough fentanyl in the U.S. last year to kill every American.
The DEA says drug poisonings are the leading killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.
The warning now? One pill can kill.
“People think they want to try it out. I'm telling you now, go hug your mom and dad because it's going to be the last time you see them,” Anthony Lafferty warned.