United States Drug Enforcement Administration

DENVER – The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Rocky Mountain Field Division (RMFD) announces it has seized nearly 2.7 million fentanyl pills – or “fake” pills – in Colorado, with one month remaining in the year. 

This breaks last year’s record-setting 2.61 million pills seized in the state.

“It is an unfortunate record to set,” said DEA RMFD Special Agent in Charge Jonathan Pullen. “We continue to work day in, day out fighting the cartels putting this poison on Colorado streets. While we have seen seizure numbers trending lower in other parts of the country, Colorado seems to be consistently at or near record highs for the number of fake pills seized.”

DEA lab testing reveals five out of every ten pills analyzed contain a likely fatal dose of fentanyl for a first-time user. This is down from seven in ten pills in 2023.

“It’s not a time to celebrate the lethality going down across the country. There’s still a 50-50 chance you’ll die after taking just one of these pills. It’s a flip of a coin,” Pullen added.

The vast majority of fake pills coming into Colorado are made by Mexican drug cartels to look like Oxycodone pills, or “blues” – counterfeit “M30s” – with an “M” stamped on one side, “30” for milligrams on the other.

Just two milligrams of fentanyl – an amount that can fit on the tip of a pencil – is considered a fatal dose.

Adding to DEA concerns is the recent appearance of carfentanil in Colorado. Last month, a seizure of 250,000+ pills was determined to contain carfentanil – an animal tranquilizer – used to sedate or put down animals the size of elephants and rhinoceroses. 

Carfentanil is one hundred times more potent than fentanyl.

While it took Colorado eleven months to break last year’s record pill seizures, Utah broke its pill seizure record (668,000) in the first six months this year (774,000). Within the DEA Rocky Mountain Field Division, Wyoming and Montana have seen pill seizures trend lower over the course of 2024.

Last year’s pill seizure total for the entire four-state Division was approximately 3.4 million pills seized. 2024 Division numbers will likely be released in late January, 2025. 

Resources are always available at www.dea.gov/onepill