(COLORADO) — The Rocky Mountain Field Division (RMFD) of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said it seized a record amount of fentanyl in Colorado in 2023, as the drug becomes the leading cause of death for Americans age 18-45.
The DEA said it seized more than 77 million fentanyl pills and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder nationally in 2023, marking the most fentanyl seized by the DEA in a single calendar year. The seizures amount to more than 386 million deadly doses of fentanyl prevented from reaching consumers – enough to kill every American, according to the DEA.
The RMFD is responsible for 450,000 square miles of territory with 13 offices across the states
of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana.
These record seizures were also seen in Colorado, as the DEA said the RMFD also seized more fentanyl in 2023 than any previous year on record:
Colorado: 425.60 kilograms of fentanyl seized, or approximately 2.61 million pills.
Utah: 119.30 kilograms of fentanyl seized, or approximately 664,200 pills.
Montana: 17.87 kilograms of fentanyl seized, or approximately 106,500 pills.
Wyoming: 4.58 kilograms of fentanyl seized, or approximately 23,700 pills.
By comparison, the RMFD seized 565,200 fentanyl pills in 2021 and 1.9 million fentanyl pills in
2022.
“Fentanyl continues to be the deadliest drug threat facing our nation. The DEA Rocky Mountain Field Division, in collaboration with our federal, state, and local partners, prevented more than 3.4 million fentanyl pills from reaching our communities in calendar year 2023,” said David Olesky, Acting Special Agent in Charge for the RMFD. “While the significant increase in fentanyl seizures across the region demonstrates the outstanding work our agents and partners in law enforcement are doing, the numbers also reveal the extent to which the cartels continue to flood our nation with this poison. 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.”
