Counterfeit Pills
Counterfeit Pills
Counterfeit Pills
Introduction
The mission of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Forensic Sciences Division, is to provide quality scientific, technical, and administrative support to law enforcement and intelligence communities for the purpose of enforcing controlled substance laws and regulations.
The Forensic Sciences Division oversees decentralized accredited laboratories that analyze evidence, including counterfeit pills, obtained by federal, state, and local law enforcement. They use a laboratory information management system (LIMS) to receive, process, analyze, and store data about this evidence, including counterfeit pills.
Among many forms of seized drugs, DEA laboratories routinely test pills that are visually identical to approved pharmaceutical medications but are, in fact, counterfeit pills containing one or more licit or illicit drugs. In recent years, these pills have become the majority of pills tested.
Counterfeit pills are illegally manufactured using pill presses, some of which have the capability of making several thousand pills per hour. Download infographic on pill presses.
Purpose & Scope
DEA is publicly releasing data about the counterfeit pills submitted as evidence to its laboratories. The goals for this release include continuing to increase data transparency, complementing DEA’s prevention and public health efforts, meeting statutory requirements, and encouraging public engagement.
Data Description
The released Public Use Files (in PDF format) contain the following information:
| Time Frame: | January 1, 2024 – December 31, 2025 |
| Geographic Coverage: | United States: 49 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Guam. Wyoming, American Samoa, and Northern Mariana Islands do not have relevant seizures in this time frame |
| Data Units: | After aggregating LIMS data about counterfeit pills, state reports include the counterfeit pill types seized in that specific state. The national report includes information on 24 different counterfeit pill types. |
| Source of Data: | Drug evidence submitted by law enforcement to DEA laboratories for analysis |
| Pill Type: | During analysis, DEA laboratory personnel collect imprint/logo information for pills seized and sent for testing. The Forensic Sciences Division utilizes data to evaluate the prevalence of counterfeit pills. |
| Pill Counts: | Reports provide the total count of a pill type seized and tested by DEA laboratory personnel. |
| Counterfeit Pill: | A counterfeit pill is defined for the purposes of these reports as a pill that, when tested in a DEA laboratory, is determined to contain different substance(s) than the substance(s) contained in the legitimate pharmaceutical medication of the same imprint. |
| Percentage of a Specific Pill Type Determined to be Counterfeit: | The percentage of pills within a specific pill type that laboratory analysis determines to be counterfeit, i.e. that are determined to contain different substance(s) than are contained in identical, legitimate pills. |
| Most Prevalent Drugs in a Specific Pill Type | DEA laboratory personnel test counterfeit pills with a specific logo/imprint to determine the most prevalent (often illicit) drugs contained within them. The ranking of these drugs is based on the percentage of all pills with a specific logo/imprint found to contain the drug. Note: percentages may sum to more than 100% because counterfeit pills often contain multiple drugs. |
| Most Prevalent Drug Combinations in a Specific Pill Type: | DEA laboratory personnel test counterfeit pills with a specific imprint to determine the most prevalent drug combinations contained within them. The ranking of the top drug combinations is based on the percentage of all pills with a specific logo/imprint found to contain the drug combination. It is common for counterfeit pills with the same logo/imprint to include different drug combinations from pill to pill. |
Data Limitations
The data does not represent all seized pills in the United States, only those pills submitted to DEA laboratories and tested. There are other pills seized by law enforcement that are sent to other federal, state, or local laboratories for testing, and many are not tested.
Seizures and lab analysis were performed between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2025. Seizures were made both by DEA and other law enforcement entities. Since DEA laboratory analysis of evidence seized in 2025 continued into 2026, some information may change in subsequent versions of these reports.
In order for information on a specific pill type to be included in reports, certain criteria for prevalence must be met. First, for the given time period, DEA laboratories must have analyzed at least ten seizures with the pill type. Additionally, at least half of the seizures analyzed by the DEA laboratories of the given pill type must be determined to be counterfeit. For these reports, 24 different pill types met the criteria for inclusion. In recent years, the “M|30” pill type has been, by far, the most prevalent pill type seized and submitted to DEA laboratories.
Please be advised that FOIA requesters seeking counterfeit pill data contained in the reports will be denied and the requester will be referred to the reports, which provide the most transparent access to this data.
DEA emphasizes that pharmacies remain a safe source for legitimate pharmaceutical drugs despite the prevalence of identical counterfeit drugs in the illicit market (e.g., street, social media, dark web purchases). The FDA provides careful oversight of pharmaceutical companies, and pharmacies must register with the DEA, who closely monitor the drugs they purchase wholesale and sell to individuals. There is no danger of counterfeit illicit drugs being distributed by pharmacies in the United States.
Counterfeit Pill Reports
Each report provides data about the top counterfeit pill types seized by federal, state, and local law enforcement between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2025. (Pills seized within this time frame but not lab tested by December 31, 2025, are not counted.) In each report, pills are ranked in order from those with the largest total number seized to those with the smallest total number seized. The data provided for each pill imprint includes the total number seized, the percentage that were determined to be counterfeit in laboratory testing, and the most commonly identified licit and illicit ingredients in the counterfeit pills.