Officials seized 330,000 fentanyl pills. Is it enough to kill the Sacramento metro 6x over?
Investigators patrolling an area last week near the Sacramento International Airport arrested a man driving a vehicle with three large bags allegedly containing more than 66 pounds of fentanyl pills.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said the confiscated 330,000 pills is estimated to be enough fentanyl to produce 10 to 15 million lethal doses of the synthetic opioid and kill the everyone living in the Sacramento Metropolitan Area.
Can 15 million lethal doses kill the entire Sacramento Metro Area population six times over? Yes.
How about 10 million lethal fentanyl doses? Not six times over but four times over. But, it all depends on who is ingesting the fentanyl and whether they’ve used the synthetic opioid before, according to federal authorities.
It’s unclear how much fentanyl is contained in each confiscated pill. But an analysis, using estimates provided by federal authorities for dosages in counterfeit pills, suggests the 330,000 pills could not contain enough fentanyl lethal doses to kill everyone in Sacramento County, let alone the four counties in the metropolitan area.
Two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal depending on a person’s body size, tolerance and past usage, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Nearly 2.4 million people in 2020 were reported to be living in the Sacramento Metro Area, which encompasses Sacramento, Placer, Yolo and El Dorado counties, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The 10 to 15 million lethal doses, sheriff’s officials say was confiscated, could be enough fentanyl to kill everyone in the Sacramento Metro Area four or six times over, depending on the amount of lethal doses.
A DEA analysis found that counterfeit pills have .02 to 5.1 milligrams of fentanyl per tablet; 42% of pills tested for fentanyl contained at least 2 milligrams of fentanyl, according to federal law enforcement agency’s “Facts about Fentanyl” web page.
Assuming that each of the confiscated 330,000 pills contained 5.1 milligrams, a review by The Sacramento Bee determined that the pills seized last in the traffic stop could only produce a maximum of 841,000 lethal doses. Sacramento County has 1.58 million residents, according to the 2020 census.
That’s still a lot of fentanyl that can kill. So far this year, 173 people in Sacramento have died from fentanyl, according to the Coroner’s Office. There were 403 fentanyl deaths in the county last year; 231 in 2022; 215 in 2021; 108 in 2020; 33 reported deaths in 2019.
Drug dealers mix fentanyl, because of its potency and low cost, with other drugs including heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine, which increases the likelihood of a fatal dose, according to the DEA. It’s possible for someone to take a pill without knowing it contains fentanyl or whether it contains a lethal dose of fentanyl.
The Sheriff’s Office used the Sacramento area’s population size to demonstrate how much fentanyl was confiscated and how just a small amount, 2 milligrams, can be deadly.
“This seizure of fentanyl highlights the very real danger that our community and communities across the country are facing,” sheriff’s officials said this week in social media posts announcing the fentanyl bust and the arrest.
In September, Sheriff Jim Cooper announced his deputies had confiscated 500 grams of fentanyl that newly arrested inmates tried to smuggle into his two jail facilities this year. He said the confiscated fentanyl at the jails was enough to kill everyone living in Elk Grove, which is correct depending on who is ingesting the drug.
The fentanyl bust last week near the Sacramento airport was prompted by traffic stop conducted by a sheriff’s detective and a California Highway Patrol officer.
The detective and the officer were working the area as part of the Domestic Highway Enforcement and Regional Enforcement of All Crimes Team, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The regional team is a collaborative initiative between the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office, the CHP and the Placer County District Attorney’s Office.
Domestic Highway Enforcement is part of the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas program, which incorporates, federal, state and local law enforcement officials.
Sheriff’s officials said the detective and the officer spotted a Jeep Cherokee commit a moving traffic violation near Interstate 5 and Airport Boulevard. The Sheriff’s Office didn’t indicate what the traffic violation was.
Sheriff’s officials said sheriff’s K9 Ronan, a drug-detecting dog, alerted the investigators to the odor of narcotics during the stop.
The investigators searched the vehicle and found two duffle bags and a shopping bag containing numerous vacuum-sealed packages of M30 fentanyl pills, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The investigators said they found over 330,000 pills that weighed more than 66 pounds.
Sheriff’s officials said the vehicle’s driver, a 45-year-old man from Washington state, was arrested and later booked at the Yolo County Jail.
This story was originally published November 1, 2024 at 12:27 PM.
