DEA calls for community collaboration, remembers victims on Fentanyl Awareness Day
by Pat Reavy ksl · KSL.comKEY TAKEAWAYS
- Cartels in Utah use pill press machines to mass-produce fentanyl pills.
- DEA seized nearly 9 million fentanyl pills in the Rocky Mountain Division last year.
- Prosecutions of fentanyl crimes are increasing; law enforcement emphasizes community collaboration.
SALT LAKE CITY — By dumping fentanyl powder into a pill press machine and with a simple press of a button, cartels can produce thousands of pills an hour in Utah to sell for huge profits.
To mark National Fentanyl Awareness Day on Wednesday, the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah joined forces to talk about the recent successes law enforcement has had in the battle against the deadly drug, but also to show how easy it is for cartels to mass produce pills laced with fentanyl.
Miguel Chino, assistant special agent-in-charge at the DEA's Salt Lake office, called fentanyl a "weapon of mass destruction." He said National Fentanyl Awareness Day was established in 2022 by families who have lost loved ones to overdoses.
Last year, nearly 9 million fentanyl pills and 3,000 pounds of methamphetamine were seized by the DEA's Rocky Mountain Field Division. The division is comprised of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. In Utah, 2 million fentanyl pills were seized. For the first quarter of 2026, the DEA has seized about 204,000 fentanyl pills in Utah.
In addition to an increase in drug seizures, Chino said the number of overdose deaths in America due to fentanyl is down. He credits that, in part, to continued law enforcement efforts and education campaigns such as "Operation Fentanyl Free America."
"On Fentanyl Awareness Day we remember, reflect, and we at DEA renew our vow to continue to take on the threats posed by the Mexican cartels on our country," he said.
But Chino says enforcement alone won't solve the fentanyl problem and "vigilance, compassion and collaboration" with others in the community is needed.
"Remember, one pill can kill, but one conversation can save a life."
Likewise, Melissa Holyoak, first assistant with the U.S. attorney for Utah, says prosecutions of fentanyl crimes are up in the state. This week, for example, she said the Utah office filed an indictment against a man accused of trying to smuggle 225,000 fentanyl pills into the state by hiding it in ready-to-assemble furniture.
"We will remain vigilant," Holyoak said.
Not only is fentanyl highly addictive, Chino says cartels can make pills for $.01 each and sell a pill for between $1 and $5 each, resulting in huge profit margins. He said if pills aren't being smuggled into Utah, fentanyl powder that is later turned into pills, or mixed with other drugs, by cartel members in Utah is.
To demonstrate how easy it is for dealers to make illegal pills, Chino put a benign powder into a pill press that was seized in an actual drug operation. Simply by pouring the powder into a funnel and turning the machine on, pills were continually spit out.
The machine used for the demonstration can make 4,000 pills an hour, he said. Many times, DEA agents will find multiple machines operating at the same time inside a home.
People who own pill press machines for legitimate purposes, such as vitamins, are required to register their presses through the Drug Enforcement Administration. Law enforcers say it's common for illegal drug producers to have machine parts purchased or shipped individually to avoid detection and then assemble a press machine themselves.
Photos
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
Related topics
Police & CourtsUtahSalt Lake County
Pat Reavy
Pat Reavy interned with KSL in 1989 and has been a full-time journalist for either KSL or Deseret News since 1991. For the past 25 years, he has worked primarily the cops and courts beat.