2025 Fentanyl Seizures Represent Over 119 Million Deadly Doses… And It’s Only Spring

An Atlanta, Georgia, news station recently reported that the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) worked with local law enforcement, and made the biggest fentanyl bust in state history, enough to kill 2.5 million people. (Watch the news clip.)

As of April 30, 2025, the DEA has seized over 22,200,000 fentanyl pills and over 3,100 pounds of fentanyl powder this year – which represents over 119 million deadly doses. In 2024, the DEA seized more than 60 million fentanyl-laced fake pills and nearly 8,000 pounds of fentanyl powder. The 2024 seizures are equivalent to more than 380 million lethal doses of fentanyl.

Comparing DEA fentanyl seizures year over year, it looks like the US is running slightly ahead of last year. The good news is we are catching more, but the bad news is there is more out there to catch. The really bad news is fentanyl still kills. About 87,000 drug overdose deaths were reported by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention from October 2023 to September 2024.

Finding the Fentanyl

Law enforcement agencies use various methods to find illicit fentanyl pills, including using:

intelligence information and surveillance to identify trafficking patterns and resources,
specially trained dogs that can detect fentanyl through its scent, laboratory testing,
interdiction operations, like conducting traffic stops, border checks, and inspections at shipping and mailing facilities, and
the latest chemical analysis technology they can use in the field.

The latest technology is a necessity these days. We’ve written about drugs being smuggled into the country in various ways – disguised as bananas, colorful candy, potato chips, and even found hidden in clothing fibers (Read Drugs in Disguise).

Utilizing Handheld Devices to Uncover Fentanyl and other Illicit Drugs

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), as well as local law enforcement agencies, use handheld chemical analyzers to help analyze and identify drugs and their precursors. These analyzers used at ports, borders, and even mail facilities help keep these deadly substances off the streets and can also help keep CBP agents safe from exposure.

For drug-related overdose occurrences, police departments and first-responders utilize handheld narcotics analysis technology to identify unknown substances in the field; and since these instruments require no direct contact with most substances, they protect officers from being harmed. These tools can identify key drugs of abuse as well as common cutting agents, precursors and fentanyl, numerous fentanyl analogs including carfentanil, as well as the precursors, NPP and ANPP. The instruments deliver real-time results for presumptive evidence, and provide automated, tamper-proof records with scan results, including time-and-date stamps to help expedite prosecution.

About Fentanyl

According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as an analgesic (pain relief) and anesthetic. It is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin as an analgesic. The government website goes on to say:

“Illicit fentanyl, primarily manufactured in foreign clandestine labs and smuggled into the United States through Mexico, is being distributed across the country and sold on the illegal drug market. Fentanyl is being mixed in with other illicit drugs to increase the potency of the drug, sold as powders and nasal sprays, and increasingly pressed into pills made to look like legitimate prescription opioids. Because there is no official oversight or quality control, these counterfeit pills often contain lethal doses of fentanyl, with none of the promised drug.

There is significant risk that illegal drugs have been intentionally contaminated with fentanyl. Because of its potency and low cost, drug dealers have been mixing fentanyl with other drugs including heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine, increasing the likelihood of a fatal interaction.”

The DEA also notes that producing illicit fentanyl is not an exact science and warns that two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal depending on a person’s body size, tolerance and past usage. Yet, DEA analysis has found counterfeit pills ranging from .02 to 5.1 milligrams (more than twice the lethal dose) of fentanyl per tablet.

Summary

Atlanta law enforcement officials were shocked that they had found that much fentanyl in their city – in one apartment – in a building complex where children and adults live. It makes one wonder what can be found in other apartment complexes elsewhere in the country, and grateful there is technology and other law enforcement tools to keep at least some of it off the streets.

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