What is a counterfeit pill?
A counterfeit pill is a tablet pressed to look like a real prescription, usually oxycodone, Xanax or Adderall, but made outside any pharmacy. Many contain fentanyl. The Drug Enforcement Administration warns that two milligrams of fentanyl can be a fatal dose, and that no one can tell a fake pill from a real one by looking at it.
What happened in Thousand Oaks?
On October 30, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office announced that a Torrance man had been held to answer on a charge of second-degree murder, along with sale and possession for sale of fentanyl and two counts of money laundering. Prosecutors allege he sold fentanyl to a man in Thousand Oaks on August 4, 2023, and that the man died the same day. According to the release, the Medical Examiner concluded the death would not have happened without the fentanyl.
In a search on September 8, 2023, investigators found, by the District Attorney’s account, about 28 grams of fentanyl packaged for sale, a digital scale and more than $12,000 in cash. He was arrested in January 2026, his bail is set at $1 million, and arraignment is scheduled for November 13. Nothing in the case has been proven in court.
Thousand Oaks sits just over the county line from Westlake Village, and the story is not new to this stretch of the 101. In 2023, The Acorn reported federal charges against a Calabasas couple and others accused of running a delivery operation that sold cocaine and pills passed off as oxycodone that contained fentanyl; prosecutors linked one of those sales to a death in June 2022. Those were also allegations. Taken together, the two cases describe the same thing: pills that arrive like a prescription and are not one.
Why can’t you tell a fake pill by looking at it?
Because the fakes are made to pass. The DEA’s One Pill Can Kill campaign publishes side-by-side photographs of genuine and counterfeit oxycodone, Xanax and Adderall, and the pairs are hard to separate even when you know which is which. The agency’s advice is blunt: never trust your own eyes to decide whether a pill is legitimate. Color, the imprint and the score line are all copied.
The scale is not small. The DEA says it seized more than 47 million fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills in 2025, plus nearly 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder, which it counts as more than 369 million potentially lethal doses. The reason those numbers translate into deaths is the dose itself. Two milligrams, an amount the agency compares to the tip of a pencil, can be enough to kill, and the Ventura County release describes fentanyl as roughly 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine.
Who is buying pills outside a pharmacy?
Rarely the person families picture. Most of the young adults we hear about did not set out to use fentanyl. They wanted something specific: a pain pill after an injury, something to sleep, something to study, something to take the edge off a party. The pill came from a friend, a friend of a friend or a delivery arranged in a message thread, and it looked exactly like the real thing.
The habit often starts earlier than parents expect. In the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, published October 15, 5.0% of U.S. high school students said they had misused prescription pain medicine in the past 30 days, and 10.6% said they had done so at some point. Misuse there means taking it without a prescription or differently than prescribed. Some of those students are now in their first year after high school, living with more freedom and less supervision than they have ever had.
“In the first days of detox we often learn what someone was really taking. A person who thought they were using pain pills can turn out to be withdrawing from fentanyl, and that changes how closely we watch them, hour by hour.”
Brianna Ayles, RADT, Behavioral Health Technician, My Limitless Journeys
What should a family keep at home?
Naloxone, and a plan for who reaches for it. Naloxone reverses an opioid overdose and, in the DEA’s words, can quickly restore normal breathing. The Food and Drug Administration approved Narcan nasal spray for over-the-counter sale on March 29, 2023, so families no longer need a prescription to buy it. Keep it somewhere obvious, tell everyone in the house where it is, and keep one in the car of anyone who drives a young adult to parties.
If someone cannot be woken or is not breathing normally, call 911 first, then give naloxone. It wears off sooner than fentanyl can, which is why emergency care still matters after the person wakes up. Then, once everyone is safe, have the harder conversation about what was in the pill and how often it has been happening.
When does pill use call for drug rehab?
When it has become regular, when it is hidden, or when stopping makes someone sick. Those are the patterns that move a family from worry to a medical question. Daily or near-daily use of opioid pills builds physical dependence quickly, and with fentanyl in the supply, the dependence may be on a much stronger drug than anyone realized. Our clinicians explain the difference in opioid and fentanyl detox, and why its timeline does not follow the older opioid script.
For families in Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Agoura Hills and Westlake Village, drug rehab for Calabasas families begins with an assessment and, when it is needed, medically supervised detox in our six-bed residence in Encino, about fifteen to twenty minutes east on the 101. There is no MLJ facility in Calabasas; everyone is treated at the one licensed address. The same clinical team then carries a client into residential care, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient work, so nobody starts over with strangers as the days get easier.
The step most families underestimate is the first one. A proper assessment asks what the person believes they were taking, what they were actually taking, how often, with what else, and what has happened when they tried to stop. Pills sold as Xanax raise a separate risk, because sedative withdrawal needs a careful, monitored taper rather than an abrupt stop. A program that cannot explain how it answers those questions is not ready to admit your son or daughter.
“Families tend to wait for proof before they call. With pills that came from outside a pharmacy, the proof can arrive too late. A confidential conversation with our admissions team commits no one to anything.”
Garrett Braukman, Executive Director, SoCal West Region, Emend Healthcare
If you are weighing options for a young adult right now, our overview for families across Calabasas and the Las Virgenes area sets out how the two Calabasas services fit together, and the Calabasas drug rehab page covers substance-specific medical care, insurance and the first call in more detail.
Frequently asked questions
Are counterfeit pills only an opioid problem?
No. The DEA documents fake versions of Xanax and Adderall as well as oxycodone, and any of them can contain fentanyl. A young adult who would never knowingly take an opioid can still be exposed through a pill sold as a study aid or a sleep aid. The only reliable source is a licensed pharmacy filling a prescription written for that person.
Can I buy naloxone in California without a prescription?
Yes. The FDA approved Narcan nasal spray for over-the-counter sale in March 2023, so it can be bought in pharmacies and other stores without a prescription. Keep it somewhere everyone in the household knows, and still call 911 after using it, because the effect can wear off before the fentanyl does.
My adult son says he only takes pills on weekends. Is that a reason to call?
Yes, for two reasons. Any pill bought outside a pharmacy can contain fentanyl, so occasional use is not low risk. And weekend use has a way of spreading into the week. A confidential call to admissions is a conversation, not a commitment, and it can help you decide whether an assessment makes sense now.
Does MLJ have a facility in Calabasas?
No. My Limitless Journeys is one six-bed residence in Encino, licensed by the California Department of Health Care Services and accredited by The Joint Commission. Calabasas families make the drive of about fifteen to twenty minutes east on the 101 for detox, residential care and in-person family sessions.
If pills have entered the picture for someone you love, you can talk it through with our team before anyone decides anything: what an assessment involves, what detox would look like and what your coverage pays for.
This article is general information, not a diagnosis or a substitute for an assessment by a clinician. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911. In a mental health or substance use crisis, call or text 988.
Sources
- Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, “Los Angeles Man Charged with Murder for Fentanyl Death in Thousand Oaks,” Release No. 26-159, October 30, 2026. da.venturacounty.gov
- Murphy, E. “Couple charged in fatal drug delivery ring.” The Acorn, December 1, 2023. theacorn.com
- Drug Enforcement Administration, One Pill Can Kill (page updated November 2, 2026). dea.gov
- Pampati, S., et al. “Urban-Rural and Demographic Differences in Substance Use Among High School Students, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2025.” MMWR Supplements 75(1):54 to 66, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, October 15, 2026. cdc.gov
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “FDA Approves First Over-the-Counter Naloxone Nasal Spray,” March 29, 2023. fda.gov
Every article on this site is written by our editorial team and reviewed by a licensed clinician. Read how we write and review content.
Keep reading: Drug rehab serving Calabasas · Opioid and fentanyl detox · Fentanyl addiction treatment · When a loved one refuses treatment