Tennessee authorities are warning against fentanyl-laced dollar bills after reporting two separate incidents where the synthetic opioid was found inside folded cash.
According to the Perry County Sheriff’s Office, someone found a folded dollar bill at a local gas station on the floor on both occasions. A “white powdery substance,” which later tested positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl, was found inside of the bills.
“This is very dangerous, folks!” the sheriff’s office said. “Please share and educate your children to not pick up the money.”
On two separate occasions, a dollar bill was found on the floor of a gas station containing methamphetamine and fentanyl, authorities say.
The Perry County Sheriff’s Office
The sheriff’s office said it plans to push for legislation “that would intensify the punishment, if someone is caught using money as a carrying pouch for such poison.”
“It enrages me as a father and the Sheriff, that people can act so carelessly and have no regard for others well being,” read a statement posted on the sheriff’s office Facebook page.
Developed for pain management treatment of cancer patients, fentanyl is up to 100 times stronger than morphine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. And since 2018, fentanyl-laced pill seizures by law enforcement has increased nearly 50-fold amid a period of record-high overdose deaths, a recent study found.
Tori B. Powell is a breaking news reporter at CBS News. Reach her at [email protected]