Amid a recent upswing in methamphetamine seizures, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Justice are now telling the public that methamphetamine pressed pills are a new product. They’re not; the agencies have just lightly rebranded an existing product and claimed that transnational drug trafficking organizations introduced it into the market within the past year or so.
“They are now putting methamphetamine in a pill form,” said United States Attorney General Pamela Bondi at a July 15 press conference. “First time we’ve seen that. A pill form. Now, a pill form of methamphetamine might not kill you instantly, but it can get you so addicted to meth that it can destroy your life. Instantly.”
This is definitely not the first time Bondi or any federal representative has seen that. The DEA has been announcing distribution and trafficking arrests related to these pills for years, going back to before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024 it declared meth pressed pills had become “an established and accepted form of the drug.” But historically the agency has referred to them as counterfeit Adderall pills.
While chaotic use may develop quickly with many things—not just drugs—the idea that certain drugs are so habit-forming that people become addicted the first time they try them is a myth.
In recent months there’s been an increase in meth seizures at the US-Mexico border, news which may not have had enough shock value on its own merits. So now we have meth pills.
“We are seeing a disturbing trend,” said DEA Acting Administrator Robert Murphy at the same press conference. “Cartels are now producing methamphetamine pills. Started seeing it in 2024 at a tremendous amount. We’ve already seized more methamphetamine pills this year than we did the entire year of 2024.”
The press conference was a joint event for the DOJ and DEA to share updates on the “Take Back America” initiative, covering drug seizures and other enforcement efforts in the first half of 2025.
“These are made to look like popular drugs that our youngest men and women want. Our college-age students,” Murphy said. “This is an effort by the cartels, a deliberate effort. Our young men and women are not seeking out methamphetamine pills. They are not seeking to get that. Unfortunately they’re being deceived into a life of potential addiction.”
The DEA has also been promoting a new interview in which Murphy told ABC News that “Methamphetamine is by far the most coveted drug” and it’s “what people want,” but maybe this is no longer the college demographic. At one point during the July 15 press conference Murphy said that “from a national security standpoint,” we could not allow so many young people to keep dying of overdose because they that’s who makes up our military forces.
The press conference also provided both agencies an opportunity to continue an ongoing schtick where they see how heavily they can imply that meth pressed pills contain fentanyl, but without actually saying it.
“Fentanyl remains the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. Fentanyl and methamphetamine together are toxic evidence the cartels have no value of life,” Murphy said. Bondi pointed to a posterboard showing a photo of a pill labeled “Fake Adderall” and said, “These are laced with drugs that could kill you.”
Meth is sometimes found in pills sold as MDMA, in addition to those sold as Adderall. But if the DEA had seized even one shipment of meth pressed pills that contained fentanyl, they’d have probably put up billboards about it.
Top image via Department of Justice. Inset image (cropped) via Drug Enforcement Administration/YouTube.