Fentanyl seizures in Montana plunge in 2025

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen announced Thursday that fentanyl seizures in the state dropped sharply in 2025, falling 70 percent from the prior year and nearly 80 percent from the all-time high recorded in 2023 — though the decline in seized supply came alongside a troubling rise in fentanyl-linked deaths.

Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task forces seized 83,382 dosage units of fentanyl in Montana last year, down from 275,091 units in 2024. It was the first time seizures dipped below 100,000 dosage units since 2021, when 60,557 units were recorded.

Knudsen credited the reduction in part to the Trump administration’s focus on securing the southern border, arguing the timing was not coincidental. He also cautioned that the drop in seizures did not mean the fight was over, pointing to persistent overdose numbers as evidence that dangerous drugs continue to claim Montana lives.

The data bears out that concern. Despite fewer seizures, fentanyl-linked fatal overdoses increased 34 percent in 2025, with the State Crime Lab confirming 74 fentanyl-linked deaths compared to 55 the year before. Those figures do not capture the full statewide total, as the crime lab only verifies deaths involving an autopsy. The drug is also increasingly being mixed with other substances — in 78 percent of last year’s fatal overdoses, fentanyl was combined with another illegal drug such as methamphetamine, up from 60 percent in 2024.

Seizure declines extended to other drug categories as well. Cocaine seizures fell 51 percent, from 68 pounds to 33 pounds, and heroin seizures dropped 94 percent, from nearly 13 pounds to less than one pound. Methamphetamine seizures held essentially flat at just over 304 pounds.

The Montana Highway Patrol’s Criminal Interdiction Teams recorded a 96 percent drop in fentanyl seized, from more than 109,000 dosage units in 2024 to just over 4,500 last year. MHP meth seizures fell 28 percent, while cocaine seizures rose 21 percent.

The figures come from six RMHIDTA task forces operating across Montana and do not represent the totality of drug seizures by all law enforcement agencies statewide, but are used to track broader trends.

Knudsen has made combating the opioid crisis a centerpiece of his tenure. This year he launched the Drug-Free Montana Tour targeting students, and during the 2025 legislative session he backed a law allowing prosecutors to charge adults with endangering the welfare of a child when dangerous drugs are found in their possession while a minor is present. He has also pressed the Trump administration to close trafficking loopholes and previously filed multiple lawsuits against the Biden administration over border security and drug interdiction policy.

By DNU staff