Pill press seizures in the United States
States in pink indicate that law enforcement has found a least one pill press making illicit pills. Click the red triangles for specific seizure incidents, January 2023 to the present.
Illicit Pill Presses are Still a Threat
Read our April 2021 update. Or watch our two minute video summary.
When we released Illegal Pill Presses with NABP and NADDI in March 2019, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had characterized fentanyl pills as a growing market. And the DEA was prescient. Since then,
- Mexican cartels have industrialized, importing precursor chemicals from China and India to make their own fentanyl in-house. (The DEA reports that cartels manufactured 71 percent of the counterfeit pills regional offices submitted for analysis in 2020.)
- Pressed counterfeit pills made with fentanyl have been found in all 50 U.S. states, with associated deaths in 42 of them (as of October 2020).
- Criminals have expanded their pill offerings to include novel benzodiazepines and methamphetamine, and to mimic Adderall, aspirin and even the diabetes drug metformin.
- Legislative efforts to enhance penalties for pill press crimes have not gained traction.
- Florida's 2018 statute to criminalize selling, buying or possessing a pill press to manufacture counterfeit controlled substances has largely not been taken up by prosecutors.
Law enforcement has seen some tremendous successes shutting down counterfeiting operations, but little legal or regulatory progress around pill presses has been made in the last two years. PSM urges federal action on this issue: The pill press as a vehicle for the distribution of dangerous drugs is not going away.
Federal resources about pill presses
DEA Pill Press Resources: Enforcement news, including slides from a briefing about Operation Pillstop, photos, and links to press releases about recent seizures and prosecutions.
PSM resources about pill presses
Anyone with a pill press has the power to make any kind of counterfeit pill, whether that's fake oxycodone made with fentanyl or blood thinners with no active ingredient.
In 2019 we gathered experts and family advocates to speak about illegal pill presses. Watch highlights or the entire event on YouTube.
LAPPA's Pill Presses: Summary of State Laws (February 2021) offers a thorough survey of state statutes.
As of October 2020, counterfeit pills made with fentanyl had been reported in all 50 states.
Do You Know What A Pill Press Is? (2019 infographic)
Pill press news on Safemedicines.org
Media coverage of pill presses
- 10 convicted in multimillion-pound fake Xanax productionJune 21, 2024
- Howell man charged in takedown of major Monmouth Co. heroin ring | Howell, NJ PatchJune 25, 2024
- Southern District of West Virginia | Kanawha County Man sentenced to 14 years in prison for fentanyl crime | United States Department of JusticeJune 26, 2024
- Armed dark web drug trafficker sentenced to over a decade in federal prisonJune 26, 2024
- Secretary Yellen announces sanctions against top leaders of Mexico’s La Nueva Familia Michoacana Drug Cartel, new fentanyl advisoryJune 20, 2024
- Gang made millions selling fake Xanax pills on dark webJune 19, 2024
- Millions of fake Xanax pills made in sheds - trialJune 7, 2024
- Dorchester man who manufactured kilos of counterfeit pills sentenced to six years in prisonJune 3, 2024
- Middle District of Florida | Eight members of Webster-based drug trafficking organization arrested on federal charges | United States Department of JusticeMay 28, 2024
- Pill press and chemical binding agents seized in Hobart drug bust - Pulse TasmaniaMay 31 2024