EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — According to new data, the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Rocky Mountain Field Division (DEA) had a big year in 2025, seizing over 6 million fentanyl pills in Colorado.

The division spans multiple states, but Colorado alone saw several major, record-breaking drug busts last year.

In November alone, Colorado saw the largest fentanyl and methamphetamine busts in the state’s history. In that fentanyl seizure, the DEA seized 1.7 million fentanyl pills alone.

With 6.7 million fentanyl pills seized in Colorado throughout 2025.

The head of the agency’s Rocky Mountain field division says the drug trade in Colorado goes far beyond the trafficking and sale of the substances.

“So often when I engage with the chiefs and sheriffs, I ask what they’re dealing with. They’re dealing with organized crime that has an association with illegal drug trafficking. There’s a historical debate between causation, but I often say there is a correlation in the work these cartels are doing and the impact not just in drugs, but other violent and organized crimes have on our state,”

According to the DEA, 10% of all fentanyl pills seized in the United States were from Colorado, and 29% of the fentanyl recovered in the state contained a lethal dose of the drug.

Colorado also saw the introduction of carfentanil in 2025, which is 10x more lethal than fentanyl, says experts.