Fentanyl, the powerful drug implicated in Tom Petty's death, is getting to the US from China via the postal service — here's how

Fentanyl, a drug that is 30 times stronger than heroin and claimed the lives of more than 20,000 Americans last year, is showing up in the mail.

A new Senate investigation into the fentanyl trade reveals that the powerful opioid painkiller implicated in the deaths of celebrities including Prince and Tom Petty is making its way to the US from China through the US Postal Service.

Here's how.

SEE ALSO: Deaths from overdoses have jumped again — but this time a single drug may be to blame

DON'T MISS: Tom Petty died from an accidental drug overdose involving painkiller Fentanyl

Fentanyl can take many forms. Available legally with a prescription, the drug is often prescribed in patches or injected through an IV. On the street, it typically shows up in pills and may be disguised as another opioid painkiller like oxycodone.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Since 1999, overdose deaths involving opioid painkillers have quadrupled. In 2016, close to 64,000 Americans died from opioids. Roughly 20,100 of those deaths were from fentanyl alone.

Fentanyl is increasingly showing up in counterfeit pills seized by authorities on the street. These pills, which were labeled hydrocodone, were recovered by authorities during a recent fentanyl investigation in Northern California.