Eleven people in Maricopa County have died from a new variant of Fentanyl according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The DEA is concerned about the new version of the synthetic opioid, believing it’s not just in Maricopa County, but across Arizona.
The presence of fentanyl has been increasing over the last few years, and just one pill can be deadly.
“There’s no quality control there’s no equal distribution of drugs in the pill,” Cheri Oz, Special Agent in Charge at the DEA’s Phoenix Field Division said of fentanyl.
Oz said her agents are now warning of a new variant of fentanyl called para-fluorofentanyl (pFF), believed to be made by drug cartels out of Mexico.
“It’s more potent and more addictive and you need less of it in a pill to have a user become addicted,” Oz said.