The DEA seized more than 20 million doses of fentanyl in MS, LA, AL and AR in 2022
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Orleans Field Division, which covers the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas, announced in a press release on Wednesday that the division had seized over 20 million doses of fentanyl in 2022.
In December, the DEA announced it had seized over 50.6 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills and more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder in 2022 — totaling an estimated 379 million doses of fentanyl.
The New Orleans Field Division says that of the DEA’s total, they seized 501,761 of those pills and 613 of those pounds, representing an estimated 20.2 million potentially deadly doses of fentanyl.
The division says that the doses seized are enough to kill more than the entire population the New Orleans Field Division covers in four states.
According to the DEA, a deadly dose of fentanyl is two milligrams, which is a small enough amount that it could fit on the tip of a pencil.
“The men and women of the DEA New Orleans Field Division have relentlessly worked to seize over 20.2 million deadly doses of fentanyl from communities across this four-state region,” Brad L. Byerley, Special Agent in Charge of DEA’s New Orleans Field Division, said in a press release.
“These seizures reflect our unwavering commitment to protect the communities where we live and work, pursuing anyone responsible for the trafficking of fentanyl.”
In 2021, the DEA warned of widespread trafficking of fake prescription pills including pills that look like OxyContin, Percocet and Xanax that were laced with often deadly doses of fentanyl. Lab testing by the DEA in 2022 showed that six out of ten fake prescription pills contained enough fentanyl to be deadly.
According to the press release, the DEA seized more than double the amount of fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills in 2022 that it seized in 2021. The DEA also seized nearly 131,000 pounds of methamphetamine, more than 4,300 pounds of heroin, and over 444,000 pounds of cocaine.
Of those totals, DEA’s New Orleans Field Division seizures accounted for 2,685 pounds of methamphetamine, 150 pounds of heroin, and 1,006 pounds of cocaine.
The public can see the DEA’s up to date tracker of approximate amounts of fentanyl pills and fentanyl powder seized by the DEA on their website.
