Fentanyl Seizures: Facts, Figures & Overdose Realities

To die from a fentanyl overdose, a person has to consume fentanyl or an immoral drug tied with it. As of April 28, the agency had taken 22.2 million fentanyl pills and 3,100 extra pounds of powdered fentanyl in 2025.” Since you have been in office Head of state Trump, your DOJ companies have seized even more than 22 million fentanyl pills, 3,400 kilos of fentanyl, since your last hundred days,” Bondi claimed. It’s usually uncertain exactly how much pure fentanyl is in the tablets or extra pounds of powdered fentanyl that are taken, Marino said. It likewise presumes that all fentanyl confiscated is pure fentanyl, which is generally not the case.

“It does not make sense to say that seizing one tablet saved five lives,” Jonathan Caulkins, a Carnegie Mellon College drug policy researcher, claimed. “Usually a pill is only taken in by someone. It would be a strange scenario for a solitary pill to kill five people.”

Fentanyl Seizure Data: An Overview

In the first 2 complete months of the Trump management, fentanyl seizures went down compared to the last complete month of Biden’s management. In December, U.S. Customs and Border Security took 1,200 pounds of fentanyl at united state boundaries. That dropped to 611 extra pounds and 760 extra pounds in February and March, specifically.

The Homeland Safety and security Department claimed in an April 28 press release that U.S. Customs and Border Protection had actually confiscated 64,000 extra pounds of fentanyl during previous Head of state Joe Biden’s management. “Sufficient fentanyl to eliminate 14 billion individuals.”

“Today is Fentanyl Recognition Day. In Head of state Trump’s initial 100 days we’ve seized over 22 million fentanyl tied tablets, conserving over 119 Million lives,” Bondi claimed April 29 on X. That has to do with one-third of the united state population.

Head of state Donald Trump’s 100th day in workplace fell on the very same day as National Fentanyl Recognition Day. United State Chief Law Officer Pam Bondi noted the turning point by crediting Trump with conserving a 3rd of the U.S. populace from fatal fentanyl overdoses.

Contradictory Claims & Misinformation

Andrew Stolbach, a toxicologist and emergency medical professional at the Johns Hopkins Medical facility, informed PolitiFact in 2023 that making use of fentanyl seizure data to make wide characterizations concerning the amount of individuals might have died or been conserved “think that all that medication was somehow going to get into everybody.”

To understand how much fentanyl remains in the united state, experts claimed we need to know just how much fentanyl is being produced, just how much is being sent to the U.S. and how much is confiscated. We only have information on just how much fentanyl is confiscated.

It’s unclear just how Bondi got to those figures concerning fentanyl took or lives conserved. A division spokesperson informed Slate that the 258 million price quote included FBI fentanyl seizures.

The 2 milligrams refers to pure fentanyl. It’s generally unclear just how much pure fentanyl is in the tablets or pounds of powdered fentanyl that are seized, Marino said. That the DEA seized 119 million dangerous dosages does not indicate the Trump administration saved 119 million people.

Understanding Fentanyl’s Lethality

“Because you have actually remained in office President Trump, your DOJ companies have actually confiscated more than 22 million fentanyl tablets, 3,400 kilos of fentanyl, given that your last hundred days,” Bondi stated. “Which saved– are you prepared for this, media?– 258 million lives.”

Fentanyl overdose fatalities also started going down during the Biden administration. The CDC reported 50,000 fentanyl overdose fatalities from December 2023 to November 2024, the most up to date readily available information. That’s a decline from greater than 75,000 in the previous similar duration.

Medication experts state that to minimize fentanyl overdose deaths, the focus can’t be just on medicine seizures. Lowering the need for fentanyl and expanding access to therapies, such as the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan, also play a role.

Broader Strategies for Overdose Prevention

Fentanyl seizures have typically increased over the previous years. Yet they decreased in 2024 to much less than 22,000 pounds at U.S. borders compared to 27,000 in fiscal 2023, united state Traditions and Border Defense figures show. Fiscal years begin in October and end in September.

Bondi shared a clip from Fox Information that consisted of 2025 Medication Enforcement Administration fentanyl seizure data. Since April 28, the agency had actually taken 22.2 million fentanyl tablets and 3,100 pounds of powdered fentanyl in 2025. The seizures “stand for over 119 million fatal dosages,” the DEA website says, calculating 2 milligrams of fentanyl as a “possibly deadly dosage.”

Furthermore, not every tablet intake brings about fatality. The DEA states that as low as 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be harmful for a grownup. Nevertheless, a dosage’s lethality can vary based on an individual’s elevation, weight and resistance from previous direct exposure, medicine specialists claim. The 2 milligrams dangerous dosage generally refers to people that have actually not previously taken in fentanyl.

“119 million Americans do not also use fentanyl, and to run the risk of an overdose needs intentional ingestion of fentanyl (or another immoral medicine infected with fentanyl),” Marino said. “Fentanyl overdose is not a threat for people who do not utilize medicines, as you can not experience an overdose from distance, breathing, or touch to fentanyl.”

Bondi’s estimation hinges on the assumption that 2 milligrams of fentanyl is dangerous. Nonetheless, lethality varies based upon an individual’s elevation, resistance and weight to the medicine. It also assumes that all fentanyl took is pure fentanyl, which is generally not the instance.

Her X statement that confiscating 22 million pills saved 119 million lives assumes that pill would certainly be shared by five people– and each of those people after that pass away of an overdose. Medicine professionals state that’s not likely.

Furthermore, the variety of people that die from opioid overdoses annually remains in the tens of thousands. Medicine specialists say 119 million people in the U.S. do not eat fentanyl or illegal medicines that may be laced with fentanyl; people who do not consume illicit medications are not at risk of dying of an overdose.

Not everybody is at threat of passing away from a fentanyl overdose, professionals state. To pass away from a fentanyl overdose, a person must consume fentanyl or an illicit drug tied with it. Around 11% of people age 12 and older in the U.S. usage controlled substances.

David Luckey, an elderly international and protection scientist at Rand Corp., an international plan brain trust, claimed that the lack of data about illegal fentanyl results in statements that are “quotes at best, and an abuse of the data at worse.”

Some political leaders point out surges in medication seizures as a sign of improved interdiction. Others say those very same numbers are proof that more medications are getting involved in the nation. Yet drug experts say it’s tough to tell who’s appropriate offered inadequate data.