WASHINGTON — Attorney General Todd Blanche grimly warned that fentanyl-laced drugs are “death pills” when reflecting on actress Hayden Panettiere’s tragic death, which authorities say resulted from the synthetic opioid.
“When it comes to fentanyl, they’re not fake pills. They’re death pills,” Blanche told a reporter during a White House press briefing Tuesday. “They’re pills that kill people. And there’s a federal statute that allows us to go after it.”
“Assuming we can, we can prove who the dealer is to go after them and put them in prison for murder. And we do it in every district in this country,” he added.
Panettiere died suddenly at the age of 36 last month. TMZ reported that her death was caused by an oxycodone pill that had been laced with fentanyl. She reportedly got it from her longtime drug dealer.
Here’s the latest on Hayden Panettiere’s tragic death:
Blanche refrained from commenting on Panettiere’s case specifically, but spoke broadly of fentanyl.
“In the cases where we know who the dealer was, and we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person sold the death pill to the victim who then dies — that’s a federal crime,” he said.
“And that’s something that we will readily prosecute, as often as we can.”
Fentanyl sourced largely from China flooded into the US over the past decade, causing a massive death toll as it was mixed into everything from heroin and cocaine to pills pressed to resemble prescriptions.
The drug can be fatal in doses equivalent to just five grains of salt.
President Trump’s White House counterterrorism director Sebastian Gorka told The Post’s Miranda Devine in May that he believes China intentionally allows the export of fentanyl to weaken the US through the “targeted killing of Americans.”
“When you are flooding millions of pills into America disguised as recreational drugs like ecstasy, but in fact each one is a lethal dose of fentanyl, that’s not the regular drug problem,” Gorka said. “That’s war by other means.”
Over the past 10 years, roughly 488,000 Americans died from fentanyl, according to CDC data — about one in every 700 US residents.
Deaths peaked in 2023, with the CDC estimating about 75,000 fatalities. The most recent federal data show the toll has halved since that time.
There’s a debate about why deaths are declining. Theories include stricter Chinese export controls and better US border detection, or the increasing prevalence of cheap test strips, overdose-reversing drugs and the fact that so many drug users already died, reducing the possible victim pool.
Panettierre became famous as a cheerleader in NBC superhero series “Heroes” from 2006 to 2010 — after playing the daughter of the main character in Fox’s “Ally McBeal” in 2002.
She was nominated for two Golden Globes — in 2013 and 2014 — for her portrayal of a country music star in “Nashville” on ABC.
Her performances included guest appearances on “Malcolm in the Middle” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and parts in two “Scream” slasher movies and as a football coach’s daughter in the 2000 film “Remember the Titans.”
