DENVER (KKTV) – Denver Police commemorated National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day by shutting down a major pill press.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl pill presses are operations in which drug traffickers “use pill presses to press fentanyl into pills and use stamps and dies to imprint markings and logos on those pills, creating pills that look like legitimate prescription drugs — like oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall — when in fact those pills contain fentanyl, methamphetamine, and other deadly drugs.” And for months, Denver police officers had been investigating these illegal enterprises in the city.
On Wednesday, the police drug unit executed a search warrant at a location that detectives had targeted: a home in the 4100 block of South Kirk Court in Arapahoe County.
With the help of the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team and the South Metro Fire Rescue Hazmat team, Denver Police discovered a fentanyl pill press in the home.
“While today’s operation was unintentional, it coincided with National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day and demonstrates the Denver Police Department’s commitment to investigating and combating the production and distribution of fentanyl in our community with the ultimate goal of saving lives,” Denver Police said.
Although police did not arrest anyone on Wednesday, they did confiscate equipment and materials that tested positive for fentanyl.
National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day is designed to raise awareness of the dangers of fentanyl and help those suffering from addiction. In Colorado, as elsewhere in the country, fentanyl use is a growing—and increasingly deadly—problem.
“Tragically, more than 74,000 people in the United States lost their lives to a fentanyl overdose in 2023. In Denver, there were a total of 598 drug-related deaths in 2023 – 389 of those deaths involved fentanyl,” Denver police said.
The epidemic has even reached schools: In 2022, three students in Colorado Springs School District 11 died of fentanyl overdoses, including a teenager who overdosed during class.
According to the DEA, fentanyl was originally intended to treat pain in cancer patients and was 80-100 times more potent than morphine. Doctors still use it to treat severe pain, but it has also been used as a street drug, with about one in four medications laced with fentanyl. The rise in accidental overdoses is attributed to this deadly combination, which many people don’t even know they are taking.
“People think they’re buying oxycodone, but they’re really buying poison,” said Travis Sides, district attorney for the 13th Judicial District.
“Overdoses from fentanyl can occur more quickly and therefore may be harder to stop than those from other opioids. The drug can come in many forms, including tablets, capsules, bricks and powders. In Denver, fentanyl has also been found in place of other illegal drugs such as cocaine and heroin,” police said.
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