- Utah fentanyl seizures are up significantly in the first half of 2025, the Fentanyl Task Force reports.
- Overdose deaths in Utah also appear to be declining, compared with last year.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is on pace to shatter last year's record for the most fentanyl seized by law enforcement, and overdose deaths are down, the state's Fentanyl Task Force announced Monday.
The state has already seized 4.3 million units of fentanyl — a powerful opioid that is a top driver of overdose deaths — in the first half of 2025, more than 92% of the 4.7 million units seized all of last year, according to data from the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. The program coordinates federal, state and local law enforcement efforts to combat the illicit drug trade.
Law enforcement officials from multiple agencies announced the figures in a press conference on the steps of the Capitol Monday as they touted the progress made by the task force since it was formed by Gov. Spencer Cox last October. The task force also announced the pending first prosecution of an alleged fentanyl trafficker under a new state law that makes it a first-degree felony to traffic more than 100 grams of fentanyl.
"Bottom line is that (State Bureau of Investigation) agents, UHP troopers and police officers across the state of Utah are aggressively targeting fentanyl enforcement and through new strategies — like HB87, the support from our Legislature — are turning seizures into consequences," said Beau Mason, the incoming commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety.
Rep. Matthew Gwynn, R-Farr West, the sponsor of HB87, said the bill is an example of "what can be accomplished when state leaders come together." The bill passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate. Gwynn, who also serves as the Roy police chief, said the fentanyl crisis in Utah is a "public health emergency," saying there is a "moral imperative" to protect Utah communities.
"The message is getting out: If you traffic fentanyl in Utah, you will face the highest possible consequences," he said.
Data through the first part of the year shows overdose deaths are down 1.5% compared to last year.
"As we look at preliminary data for the first quarter of 2025, we're excited to see that some of that data, our numbers, are coming down again," said Utah Department of Health and Human Services deputy director Nathan Checketts.
As the number of busts in Utah has increased, Mason said the state is becoming more of a destination for drug trafficking, as opposed to a pass-through to other states.
"The drugs come out of Mexico or California and they travel up I-15, hit I-70, I-80 and they go over to further on the East Coast," he told KSL.com. "And right now what we're seeing is fentanyl, the loads we're getting off the roads are destined for Utah, and that's alarming, because that's affecting our families, our kids, our communities, and so every load we can pull, every drug bust we can make, whether it's 10 pills or 1,000 pills or 90,000 pills is impactful for our communities."
President Donald Trump has massively cracked down on illegal crossings of the southern U.S. border, and while Mason believes that has helped in some ways, the high number of seizures shows some illicit drugs are still being brought into the country.
"We don't deal directly with the fentanyl crossings, obviously, but we believe there has been a decline in the amount coming over," Mason said. "It's not to say that it's not here, I mean, as we're talking, we're pulling record numbers. So we know that it's still coming across, but we feel like the border tightening up ... helps with that drug distribution network."
