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
- Chinese national indicted in El Paso, Texas, and arrested in Las Vegas for alleged conspiracy to sell equipment used to manufacture counterfeit pillsDecember 20, 2024
- Darknet drug trafficker from Pennsylvania pleads guilty in D.C. to selling mass quantities of fentanyl onlineDecember 17, 2024
- Alleged leader of fentanyl pill trafficking operation appears In court on federal drug chargesDecember 17, 2024
- Man sentenced for trafficking fentanyl pills in MassachusettsDecember 13, 2024
- Cranston man admits he sold fake oxycodone pills containing fentanyl | Cranston, RI PatchDecember 12, 2024
- 66-year-old man arrested in Belmont fentanyl spillDecember 11, 2024
- Eastern District of Virginia | Recidivist drug trafficker sentenced to over 26 years in prison for running drug operation from his apartments | United States Department of JusticeDecember 4, 2024
- We bought a machine that makes fentanyl pills. It wasn't hard.December 5, 2024
- Final co-conspirator ordered to prison for dark web pill manufacturing and distribution ringDecember 2, 2024
- 5 arrested when police find $318,000 worth of fentanyl, marijuana, pills at Detroit homeNovember 29, 2024