'This poison is killing Montanans': Task force fentanyl seizures up nearly 11,000% in Montana since 2019

Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task forces seized well over three times as much fentanyl in 2022 as in 2021, but the 2022 figure is up nearly 11,000% from the 2019 level, according to a press release from the Montana attorney general.

Task forces secured a whopping 206,955 dosage units of the drug in 2022, up from 60,577 in 2021, and 1,900 in 2019 — the figures from six task forces "are not all inclusive of drugs seized by all law enforcement in the state," according to the press release.

"The amount of illicit fentanyl coming across the southern border has skyrocketed. This poison is killing Montanans," Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said, according to the press release. "Our narcotics agents and troopers are getting more fentanyl off the roads than ever before, but we need additional tools and resources to keep it out of our communities."

Knudsen has called for designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations — during an interview with Chris Cuomo on NewsNation, the Montana attorney general said that the cartels are "undermining our country" and "poisoning our citizens."

Montana AG: 'I would absolutely advocate for cartels to be designated terrorist orgs' | CUOMOwww.youtube.com

Fentanyl is a dangerous drug that can be deadly. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration describes it as "a highly addictive man-made opioid," and says that two milligrams of it is considered a possibly lethal dose.

"As 2022 comes to an end, the Drug Enforcement Administration is announcing the seizure of over 50.6 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills and more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder this calendar year," the DEA noted in a December press release. "The DEA Laboratory estimates that these seizures represent more than 379 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl."

DEA administrator Anne Milgram pointed to two drug cartels: "DEA's top operational priority is to defeat the two Mexican drug cartels—the Sinaloa and Jalisco (CJNG) Cartels—that are primarily responsible for the fentanyl that is killing Americans today," she said, according to the DEA press release.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up!