international airport. the person got away but the person has been identified. in the wake of the seizure, the sheriff s department warned parents to be alerted to the threat of fentanyl. with halloween approaching, parents need to make sure that they re checking their kids candy and not allowing them to eat anything until it has been inspected by them. the dea points out about 42% of elicit pills contain more than the lethal death of two milligrams of fentanyl. the pills sized at lax could have killed around 5,000 people. according to the cdc, 107,000 americans died of drug overdoses in 2021 with 66% of those deaths related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. the dea now says and this is a quote, fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered.
contain fentanyl packaged in candy boxes, whoppers, skittles, sweet tarts, a passenger tried to take them through a tsa checkpoint at los angeles international airport. the passenger somehow managed to get away, but officials say the person has been identified and the investigation is ongoing. and in the wake of the seizure, the sheriff s department warned parents to be alert to the threat of fentanyl saying in a statement with halloween approaching, parents need to make sure they are checking their kids candy and not allowing them to eat anything until it has been inspected by them. the dea, by the way, points out about 42% of illicit pills contain more than the potentially lethal dose of two milligrams of fentanyl. so those pills seized at lax could kill around 5,000 people.
different batches of the substance. that is why we could see more of these different colors emerging. but this is the next thing on drug authority s radar when it comes to the opioid epidemic. and just to tell you more about fentanyl for our audience to put this in perspective. it is a synthetic opioid. it is 50 times more potent than heroin. 100 times more potent than morphy and two milligrams is considered to be a lethal dose. so that is why brightly colored fentanyl in this form is getting some attention but this is part of the ongoing opioid epidemic, one smart part of this larger public health crisis. no question. i mean responsible for so many deaths. fentanyl. just so powerful. jacqueline howard, thank you so much. we ll continue to get the word out. an thank you for joining us today. i m jim sciutto. my colleague boris sanchez
to differentiate between batches of the substance. so that s why we could see this emerging ain popularity. when it comes to fentanyl itself, it s a synthetic opioid. it s driven the opioid ep epidemic in recent years. it s 50 times more potent than heroin. and just 2 milligrams of the substance is considered to be a lethal dose. sadly here in the u.s., deaths have increased 80% in the past two years. as we know, covering the opioid epidemic, we have seen lives lost and families impacted by this. as you mentioned, they are colorful. you can see this is a disaster just the waiting to happen if there are kids around. we ll keep an eye on this. thank you so much. a temper tantrum caught on camera the moment an offensive coordinator for the bills just