The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced on Thursday that it made more than 800 arrests and seized more than 1.8 million fake pills as part of a two-month operation and crackdown on fentanyl-laced fake pills. Working with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, the DEA seized 1.8 million fentanyl-laced fake pills and arrested 810 drug traffickers in cities, suburbs, and rural communities across the United States. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that’s blamed for an escalating overdose death rate in the United States. It’s most often manufactured in Mexico using chemicals supplied from China, and mixed with other narcotics to increase potency, as well as pressed into counterfeit pain pills commonly known as “Mexican oxys.” In the past, fentanyl had mainly been mixed with heroin to boost the drug’s potency, but now it’s often pressed into small blue tablets and stamped with “M30” to closely match the color and …