Authorities seized approximately 62,000 pounds of fentanyl smuggled into California in 2023. The total amount of the powerful synthetic opioid seized last year “is enough to potentially kill the world's population nearly twice over,” Gov. Gavin Newsom's office announced Tuesday.
In 2023, the California National Guard supported other law enforcement agencies in anti-drug operations across the state, seizing a record 62,000 pounds of fentanyl at ports of entry, according to a news release from Newsom's office. It is unclear what means were used to smuggle the opioid and what form the fentanyl was in when it was shipped.
Compared to just a few years ago, the amount of fentanyl seized by authorities has increased dramatically. In 2021, California authorities seized more than 5,300 pounds of the drug, with a street value of $64 million. In 2022, that figure rose to 28,000 pounds, with a street value of $230 million, according to the U.S. Department of Justice's assessment of illegal drug values in the Los Angeles region.
According to authorities, the total amount of fentanyl seized in 2023 would be worth approximately $670 million. It is unclear whether the increase in the amount of fentanyl seized was due to more officers making seizures or whether traffickers significantly increased the amount of drugs they were attempting to smuggle into the state.
In any case, the State has intensified its efforts.
Newsom called fentanyl a poison that doesn't belong in neighborhoods.
“California is taking aggressive action: increasing seizures, expanding access to substance abuse treatment, and holding drug traffickers accountable to combat the immeasurable harm opioids have caused our communities,” Newsom said in a statement.
The California National Guard's role in the state's drug task force has also grown over the past year. The state expanded the number of service members deployed along the border and in San Francisco to support the California Highway Patrol in high-intensity drug trafficking areas.
The DEA says just 2 milligrams of fentanyl is considered a lethal dose. In 2022, more than 110,000 people died across the United States from drug poisoning, and about 70% were related to fentanyl.
“The United States is in the midst of an unprecedented drug poisoning epidemic,” the DEA said in a news release about the sale of pill presses.
Last year, federal authorities seized nearly 80 million counterfeit fentanyl pills and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder, according to the DEA. Illegal drug sellers can make pills that look like legitimate prescription medications with pill pressing machines purchased online. Federal agents said 7 in 10 counterfeit pills seized from illegal sellers in 2023 tested positive for fentanyl.
In Los Angeles County, fentanyl surpassed methamphetamine as the most common drug on the list of overdose deaths in 2022. The opioid was linked to approximately 60% of all accidental drug or alcohol overdoses, according to the Department of Los Angeles County Public Health, and black Angelenos were murdered. in disproportionately larger numbers.
