'People are getting tricked': Raleigh DEA warns of counterfeit prescription pill surge

The 20-year-old's mother, Wendy Thomas, said she believes her son died from a counterfeit pill.

“He actually had enough to kill him five times over,” Wendy Thomas said. “There’s wasn’t just a little bit [of fentanyl] in that pill, there was quite a bit. He didn’t have a chance.”

Matthew Thomas’ two friends from Apex High School also died of fentanyl poisoning, in August and October.

“Those three boys should be alive. They were murdered,” Wendy Thomas said. "Someone chose to put fentanyl in the pill that they took, and they thought it was something else. They should be alive. That shouldn’t have happened. Yes, their choice led to it, but they didn’t choose to die.”

The Raleigh field office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has recently warned against a surge in counterfeit prescription pills in North Carolina.

Matthew O’Brien, assistant special agent-in-charge, said Mexican drug cartels are sending powder through the mail and across the border that’s pressed and stamped in the U.S. to look like real drugs – Percocet, Oxycontin, Xanax, Adderall and others – but is laced with fentanyl and, in some cases, doesn't even include any of the actual medication.

"People are getting tricked,” O’Brien said. “Because there’s no exact dosage and quality control, you are truly taking your life into your own hands when you take that one pill. You don’t know what’s in it.”

The DEA says just 2 milligrams of fentanyl – the equivalent of just a few grains of salt – can be deadly.

The phony pills are often sold on social media sites like Snapchat, where menus of drugs are circulated and disappear after being viewed on the app.

“They lace it with fentanyl because it’s highly addictive. It’s very lucrative. If they can get you addicted to it, you are a repeat customer,” O’Brien said.

Apex recorded 78 opioid-related overdoses between 2018 and 2020, according to data from the Apex Police Department.

“People know that there is an opioid crisis out there, but unless you are directly affected, you don’t pay attention,” Steen said.

Steen’s son has been in recovery for more than two years after struggling with an addiction to pills and alcohol for a decade. She said she hopes the task force can provide support to families who feel like they have no place to turn.

“I want people to know, mothers in particular, you are not alone,” she said. "You are not alone, and if you ask for help and if you reach out, it’s more tolerable. It’s easier to navigate.”

While he struggled with drug use throughout his teen years, Matthew Thomas' future was beginning to look bright, with success in both his career and relationships, according to his mother.

“I am determined to make a difference and save kids and save families from going through what we had to go through,” she said, adding that she hopes her son’s face and story will get teens to think twice and get parents to be more involved.

"You want your kids to have privacy but not at the expense of their life,” she said.

O’Brien encourages parents to frequently check their children’s social media and text messages and have conversations about the dangerous pills killing unsuspecting victims.

“It’s a scary time, but if you stay engaged [and] ask them to make informed decisions, then hopefully, you can stop this from ever happening,” he said.

In late March, authorities discovered more than 1,200 counterfeit pills containing fentanyl during a drug seizure in Clinton. O'Brien said the local DEA office has multiple ongoing cases targeting larger organizations pumping fake drugs into the community.