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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – United States Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, William Ihlenfeld, and chairman of the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (AHIDTA) Executive Board has targeted fentanyl as a major regional enforcement priority.
The program operates 48 specialized drug interdiction units in West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia and made nearly 2,400 drug arrests in 2021.
Ihlenfeld served as U.S. Attorney from 2010 to 2016, before serving a partial term in West Virginia State Senate District 1. Ihlenfeld was nominated for another term as U.S. Attorney in 2021 and on WAJR’s Talk of the Town he said the illegal drug trade has seen a great deal of change over that time.
“The world of drug trafficking and interdiction was much different,” Ihlenfeld said. ” Fentanyl was present at that time, but not nearly in a way that it is now. Now we’re at the point where fentanyl is killing more people by drug overdoses that all the other drugs combined.”
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that was developed to treat very severe pain associated with terminal illness and is up to 100 times more potent than morphine. A report from the DHHR said fatal overdoses went from 878 in 2019 to 1,275. Information from the CDC said nationwide fatal overdoses involving synthetic opioids were 12 times higher in 2019 than in 2013.
“It’s easy to conceal an amount that is very dangerous and very deadly,” Ihlenfeld said. ” So, it is a little bit different than the quantities we’re used to seeing of something like marijuana.”
Columbus, Ohio has been identified a major distribution hub. Ihlenfeld has had recent meetings with members of the Ohio State Highway Patrol in order to increase pressure on the suppliers and users at all levels.
“We can’t act fast enough, we have to grab the fentanyl” Ihlenfeld said. ” When a package hits the porch and we believe it has fentanyl in it we have to be able to grab it. When a car is driving down I-79 and we have intel there’s fentanyl in it we have to make that traffic stop.”
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports some drug organizations press fentanyl into pills that look like legitimate prescription drugs. When there is no scientific control or oversight, many times these counterfeit pills contain deadly doses of fentanyl. Just 2 milligrams of the drug can be fatal, according to the DEA.
“Fentanyl is added to other substances, so well have cocaine but it’s cut with fentanyl. We’ll have heroin that’s cut with fentanyl,” Ihlenfeld said. ” Then we also see fetanyl delivered in stand alone form.”
Police officers no longer conduct field tests on narcotics as in the past due to the deadly nature of the drug. Police take extra precautions during interactions with suspected fentanyl and even more measures are taken to ensure the safety of canine officers.
“Now, we see those substances being carefully contained and taken immediately to a lab for testing where there are extra safety precautions in place.”
The DEA says illicit organizations typically sell fentanyl by the kilogram (2.2 pounds), that quantity is enough to kill 500,000 people or nearly one-third of the population of West Virginia.