In the first six months of this year, Montana law enforcement seized 58 times more fentanyl than they seized in all of 2019. The state’s Rocky Mountain High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task forces seized almost 112,000 fentanyl doses, which doesn’t even include fentanyl seized by other law enforcement across the state. In comparison, more than 60,000 doses were seized last year, and just 1,900 dosage units were seized in 2019.
“It’s growing exponentially, and it’s a massive crisis devastating with honestly deadly consequences,” Montana Republican Governor Greg Gianforte explained to The Daily Wire in an interview.
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Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is cheap to make and easily transported, is roughly 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. Because it is usually cut with other drugs, users may be unaware that they are consuming the powerful substance, which can be deadly even in small doses. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), 42% of pills tested for fentanyl contained a potentially lethal dose.
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Fentanyl overdoses are now the leading cause of death for Americans 18 to 45, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). During the year that ended in October 2021, almost 106,000 people died from drug overdoses; according to the CDC, a surge was largely driven by fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.
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In Montana, 34 people have already died this year from fentanyl overdoses, with dozens more deaths suspected, according to the Montana Justice Department. Last year, fatal fentanyl overdoses in Montana increased 1,100% since 2017 from four to 49. Since 2021, opioid-related emergency medical responses have increased 57%.
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As overdoses tick up across the state, Montana officials and law enforcement are pleading with the Biden administration to do something regarding the porous U.S.-Mexico border, which they blame for the deadly crisis.
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“Even though we’re 1,200 miles away from the southern border, I can tell you we’re a northern border state with a southern border problem,” announced Gianforte. “It’s just ripping our communities apart,”
More and more, Mexican cartels are manufacturing fentanyl for distribution in the U.S., importing the chemical precursors for fentanyl production from China and turning them into pills and powder at “massive, industrial-scale labs,” according to the Justice Department. In recent weeks, law enforcement across the nation has been on alert for a creative new version of the deadly drug dubbed “rainbow fentanyl,” which resembles candy.
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In July, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized 2,100 pounds of fentanyl, more than 200% more than the 640 pounds the agency seized in June.
Mexican cartels have used the migrant disaster to overwhelm and distract Border Patrol agents as they smuggle drugs across the border, according to James Carroll, the Trump administration’s drug czar.
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