DEA Confiscated Record Amount of Fentanyl in 2023

DEA confiscated record amount of fentanyl in 2023, more than 2.6 million pills in Colorado – published by The Colorado Sun

Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45, the Drug Enforcement Administration saidAs many as 7 in 10 counterfeit pills tested in 2023 contained a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl, or roughly the amount that fits on the tips of a pencil, national DEA laboratory testing showed. (Photo courtesy of Rocky Mountain Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration)

Roughly 3.4 million fentanyl pills were seized across Colorado, Utah, Montana and Wyoming last year, federal officials said Wednesday, marking a 79% increase across the region from 2022 and the highest number of fentanyl pills ever seized in a calendar year.

The Rocky Mountain Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration announced the record-breaking numbers as fentanyl remains the deadliest drug threat facing the country and is now the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.

As many as 7 in 10 counterfeit pills tested last year contained a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl, or roughly the amount that fits on the tips of a pencil, national DEA laboratory testing showed. That’s an increase from 4 in 10 pills in 2021 and 6 in 10 pills in 2022, the DEA said.

In Colorado, investigators seized nearly 940 pounds of fentanyl last year, or about 2.61 million pills, the DEA said.

The amount seized across the four-state region in 2023 was more than a 500% increase from amounts confiscated in 2021.

The increase in fentanyl seizures across the Rocky Mountain region highlights the extent to which cartels are bringing fentanyl into the country, David Olesky, Acting Special Agent in Charge for DEA’s Rocky Mountain Field Division said in a news release.

Most of the pills entering Colorado were manufactured in Mexico with chemicals shipped there from China.

“As we begin the new year, DEA is committed to staying laser-focused on investigating the two cartels most responsible for trafficking fentanyl into the United States, as well as bringing greater public awareness to the dangers of fentanyl,” Olesky said in the release.

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While there is far more information on the dangers of fentanyl now than when the state first started seeing a spike in overdose deaths in 2017, families who have lost loved ones to the drug say there is still a lot more work to do.

Several universities and community colleges have agreed to a list of requests by parents, including joining a real-time overdose map, that would quickly alert school leaders about fentanyl deaths in their cities and on campus, and naloxone training for students.

The push for more warnings and education comes after parents of five young adults who died from fentanyl poisoning questioned by state universities had not done more to warn students, especially when local authorities knew that a particularly deadly batch of counterfeit oxycodone or Xanax containing fentanyl was circulating.

In 2023, 948 people in Colorado died from a fentanyl overdose, up from 920 in 2022, according to preliminary state health department data. Officials expect the total fentanyl overdose deaths from last year to increase due to a roughly three-month lag in the data.

Nationally, the DEA seized more than 77 million fentanyl pills and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder last year, officials said.

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