“There’s no question that fentanyl is now the number one public safety threat facing Montana. Mexican drug cartels are pushing it across the border, flooding it into our state at an unprecedented rate—and killing Montanans,” Attorney General Knudsen said. “I’ve put additional resources into the fight against drugs and crime in Montana and will continue my efforts alongside other law enforcement agencies to keep our communities safe.”

Montana is on pace to triple last year’s record-shattering fentanyl seizures.

Anti-drug task forces in Montana are on pace to have already taken 58 times more fentanyl off the streets this year than in all of 2019.

According to AG Knudsen, through June 30, Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA) task forces seized 111,611 fentanyl dosage units in Montana. This number includes 17,892 fentanyl dosage units combined with 20.66 fentanyl pounds converted to dosage units. In all of 2021, task forces seized 37,724 dosage units and 5.03 pounds of fentanyl, totaling 60,577 combined dosage units. In 2020, that combined amount was 6,663 and in 2019 it was 1,900.