DENVER (KDVR) — A record-setting amount of fentanyl pills were seized from Colorado this year, with half containing likely fatal doses, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The DEA’s Rocky Mountain Field Division said nearly 2.7 million fentanyl pills were seized from the state with one month left in the year, breaking last year’s record of 2.61 million pills seized.
After testing the pills found in Colorado this year, the administration said five out of every ten pills analyzed contain a likely fatal dose of fentanyl — an amount that can fit on the tip of a pencil. This is down from last year when seven out of every ten pills contained a fatal dose.
“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,” special agent Jonathan Pullen said.
The DEA also said there has been a recent appearance of carfentanil, an animal tranquilizer, in Colorado. This is used to sedate or put down animals the size of elephants and rhinoceroses and is one hundred times more potent than fentanyl.
The DEA said the majority of the fentanyl, or “fake pills,” coming into Colorado were made by Mexican drug cartels to look like Oxycodone pills or “blues,” counterfeit “M30s,” with an “M” on one side and “30” for milligrams on the other.
