ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Missouri State Highway Patrol says they seized enough fentanyl this year to kill everyone in the state.
Nearly 12,500 grams Fentanyl were seized by the Missouri Highway Patrol this year.
"We've got more fentanyl seized this year in the patrol than what it take to kill the entire population of Missouri," said Master Sgt. Darrin Haslag of the Division of Drug and Crime Control.
It takes only 2 milligrams of Fentanyl to cause an overdose death. With a population of 6.168 in the state of Missouri, 12,500 grams of Fentanyl could kill almost double of Missouri's population.
Haslag says addictions to opioids are a driving demand for fentanyl in Missouri.
"What dealers have learned now is that they are pressing pills and putting small amounts of Fentanyl in it to mimic the high you would get from opioids," said Haslag.
The Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control has nine teams of narcotics investigators located all over the state, and they work with five different drug task forces fighting illegal drugs.
Missouri Highway Patrol isn't the only one to see record seizures of fentanyl. The St. Louis Division of Drug Enforcement Administration seized a record 1.034 million fentanyl pills this year.
