Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen proudly announced on March 6th a remarkable over 20,000 percent surge in fentanyl seizures by anti-drug forces in Montana since 2019. Moreover, an unprecedented amount of fentanyl was seized in 2023 compared to 2022, shattering previous records.
In 2023, Rocky Mountain High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task forces seized a staggering total of 398,552 dosage units of fentanyl in Montana, representing a phenomenal 111 percent increase in the total amount seized in 2022 when 188,823 dosage units were seized. This is also an incredible nearly 600 percent increase from 2021 when 60,557 dosage units were seized and an astonishing 6,000 percent increase from 2020 when 6,663 dosage units were seized.
“Fentanyl is a poison that’s killing men, women, and children at unprecedented rates and devastating Montana communities,” explained Attorney General Austin Knudsen in a press release. “As Attorney General, I’m doing everything I can to combat this crisis. We’re putting more boots on the ground and giving prosecutors the tools they need to hold perpetrators accountable, but until the southern border is secure the problem will not be solved. President Biden needs to do his job, follow the law, and secure the border.”
These quantities are from the six RMHIDTA Montana task forces, which includes the Montana Department of Justice’s narcotics bureau and Montana Highway Patrol criminal interdiction teams, which are overseen by Attorney General Knudsen and are not all-inclusive of drugs seized by all law enforcement in the state. The task forces also seized 41.31 total pounds of cocaine, nearly twice that of last year’s 24.11 pounds. Methamphetamine seizures increased slightly, with 211.94 pounds taken off the streets in 2023 compared to 200 in 2022.
Fentanyl-related deaths in Montana have been increasing. According to preliminary reports from the State Crime Lab, there were 80 overdose deaths involving fentanyl in 2023. This is a significant increase of 1,900% from 2017 when only four deaths were reported. It is essential to note that the reported number only includes deaths that undergo an autopsy and are verified by the crime lab.
“Please, never take a pill that isn’t prescribed to you, and talk to your children about the dangers of drugs. Just one pill can take a life,” explained Attorney General Knudsen.
To combat the problem in Montana, Attorney General Knudsen secured funding for two narcotics agents at the Division of Criminal Investigation, during the 2023 Legislative Session. He also supported bills that will help combat the crisis, including House Bill 791 which imposes a mandatory two years of jail time, a $50,000 fine, or both, for anyone convicted of selling fentanyl in Montana, and Senate Bill 67 which revises drugs scheduled for Schedule I, Schedule II, Schedule III, Schedule IV, and Schedule V controlled substances and provides updates to each listed schedule, enabling more state-level prosecutions.
In addition to increasing the number of Montana Department of Justice narcotics and major case agents, Attorney General Knudsen has added a statewide drug intelligence officer who assists local law enforcement and public health agencies and spearheaded a grant program that helped deploy two dozen drug-detecting K9s across the state.
Additionally, Attorney General Knudsen continues to hold the federal government accountable for their role in the fentanyl crisis. Earlier this year, he testified in a U.S. House of Representatives impeachment hearing against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his failure to enforce federal immigration law and properly secure the southern border.
Attorney General Knudsen has also called on Biden to designate drug cartels as terrorist organizations and classify fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.
