Authorities said Weld County Sheriff’s Office K9 team recently found a significant cache of illegal fentanyl while assisting Longmont police with a traffic stop.
At 5:35 p.m. Feb. 28, deputies responded to the 300 block of Lashley Court in Longmont to perform an open-air sniff of a blue car driven by a known drug dealer, according to a statement shared by the Weld County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies deployed K9 Viper, who alerted to drugs being inside the vehicle.
Longmont police officers searched the vehicle, finding a black container filled with counterfeit 30 milligram Oxycontin pills laced with fentanyl, also known as M30s, according to the sheriff’s office. Officers later informed deputies they seized an alleged 9.3 grams of the lethal drug or 93 pills.
Officials highlighted a number of cases in Weld County and throughout the state of victims overdosing on just one counterfeit pill laced with fentanyl.
“Last month’s K9 assist saved as many as 93 lives,” the Weld County Sheriff’s Office said.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid used to treat severe or chronic pain following surgery. It’s similar to morphine but about 100 times more potent, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Illicit fentanyl is often mixed with other illicit drugs to increase its potency and increasingly pressed into pills to imitate legitimate prescription drugs.
The Drug Enforcement Administration warns that there is a significant risk that illegal drugs have been intentionally contaminated with fentanyl because of its potency and low cost.
DEA analysis of seized counterfeit pills found Fentanyl concentrations ranging from .02 milligrams to more than five milligrams. Two milligrams can be a lethal dose for many people.
Overdose deaths involving opioids like fentanyl rose 38.1% in 2021 compared to 2020. Deaths involving synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, rose 55.6% in that same time and appear to be the primary driver of the increase in total drug overdose deaths.
For more information and resources, visit https://www.dea.gov/resources/facts-about-fentanyl.
