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

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,

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.

Video cover: DEA's Pill Press Push
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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.