The answer may shock you

(KMID/KPEJ)- How much fentanyl does a person have to ingest before things turn deadly? The answer may shock you. 

The Texas Department of Public Safety, as part of Fentanyl Awareness Month, which takes place every October, said just two milligrams of the dangerous drug can be fatal. The visual below shows, two milligrams aren’t very much. 

Fentanyl is often pressed into fake pills or cut into street drugs, such as methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine — often without the user knowing it — and the outcome can be deadly. In fact, dozens of local teens and young adults have been killed by the drug since it began circulating in the community at an alarming rate in 2020.

Much of the danger lies in the fact that even healthcare professionals struggle to tell the difference between real pills and those laced with fentanyl.

Insidious in nature, the drug can cause difficulty breathing, low blood pressure, decreased heart rate, loss of consciousness, coma, and death. And once someone ingests the drug, knowingly or unknowingly, life-saving intervention often comes too late, as many teens and young adults experiment with drugs alone and out of sight of someone who can intervene. 

The CDC estimates that more than 111,000 Americans died from a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending in April – and more than 77,000 of those deaths involved fentanyl and other synthetic opioids other than methadone. Both are record highs and increases over the prior year. In Texas, fentanyl related deaths rose by 28% during that same time period.

To combat the rise in fentanyl across Texas, DPS continues to combat the smuggling of this deadly drug into the state, particularly as part of Operation Lone Star. Since Operation Lone Star began in March 2021, Texas law enforcement has seized more than 429 million (as of September 22,2023) lethal doses of fentanyl across the state. This is enough fentanyl to kill every man, woman and child in the United States.

Law enforcement agencies across the Basin have asked parents to talk to their kids and warn them about the dangerous drug. To learn more about fentanyl, visit this website.