DENVER — The Drug Enforcement Administration said it is on pace to seize a record number of fentanyl pills in Colorado in 2024, after a record 2.6 million pills were seized last year.
Already this year, nearly 1.8 million fentanyl pills have been seized, according to the agency’s Rocky Mountain Field Division.
Acting Special Agent in Charge David Olesky said seven out of every 10 pills recovered have tested positive for potentially lethal amounts of fentanyl.
“Last year, we’re talking about 2.6 million pills seized in the state,” Olesky said. “You’re looking at well over 1.5 million potential lethal doses and lives saved.”
He said the DEA has made fentanyl seizures and arrests a top priority but that more work needs to be done. Undercover purchases have shown the price of fentanyl on the streets is dropping, despite millions of pills being removed from the streets by federal agents.
“If our seizures are going up, normal economics should say price goes up, but it’s not the case,” Olesky said. “We’re seeing seizures go up, we’re seeing lives lost go up, and we’re seeing prices going down.”
Wholesale prices are now as low as 80 cents per pill, down from $2 $5 in recent years, he said. Unlike other drugs, fentanyl remains cheap and quick to produce.
“Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, and so there is a basically limitless amount that the cartels can produce when there’s pre-cursor chemicals coming from the Far East,” he said.
Despite increased enforcement, the solution to the fentanyl crisis also rests in education, Olesky said.
“We say in our campaign at the DEA: One pill can kill, but one conversation can save,” he said.
DEA seizures of fentanyl pills in Colorado
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