Fentanyl seizures skyrocket on Colorado roads

The Colorado State Patrol reports more than 52,000 fentanyl pills and 422 pounds of fentanyl powder have been recovered in its busts for just the first eight months of this year. That same stretch has also been marked by a large increase in overdoses and deaths from fentanyl or other drugs laced with it.                    

The Colorado State Patrol trafficking interdiction team trains to stop the flow of fentanyl.

Its dashcam videos show how it works in real life. In one a car was pulled over along I-70 in Mesa County, quite possibly for a traffic violation. The driver is ordered out and puts his hands up. Troopers obtained permission to search and found multiple packages of wrapped drugs.

Matthew Packard, the Chief of the State Patrol says: "Fentanyl keeps coming this is a poison not only in Colorado but every community throughout the country"

Fentanyl busts on the highways occur regularly, but how common and how big have they become?

So far just through last month, the state patrol has seized nearly three times the fentanyl powder and more than four times the quantity of fentanyl pills than in all of last year.

Vehicles are stopped throughout the state. One of the suspects took off and was pursued.

Packard does not mince words, "You have drug dealers -- bad people -- that are selling poison, that are preying on folks addicted to other substances," he said.

The drugs travel Colorado interstates and other roads largely to make their way out of state, but also to the people of Colorado.

Kim Osterman of Broomfield lost her 18-year-old son Max last year from fentanyl poisoning.

"He purchased about 30 pills and didn't wake up," she said holding up a picture of her son.

The busts recover more than just fentanyl. On June 7, there was also heroin, meth, cocaine and a firearm.