Fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 45, and the Drug Enforcement Administration wants parents to add a conversation about the deadly drug to their back-to-school to-do lists.
The DEA's Rocky Mountain Field Division is urging parents and teachers to reinforce messaging about the dangers of fentanyl as the 2026-27 school year gets underway. The agency says the region is saturated with the deadly synthetic opioid. At one point this year, 1 in every 6 fentanyl pills seized in the U.S. was seized in the Rocky Mountain region, with most of those seizures occurring in Colorado. Interstates 25 and 70 remain what the DEA calls fentanyl pill superhighways.
Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl — a synthetic opioid that causes respiratory failure — is considered a fatal dose. In 2025, 1,813 Coloradans died of a drug overdose. Utah, Montana, and Wyoming recorded nearly 800 overdose deaths combined. While the rest of the U.S. is seeing a decline in fatal overdoses, Colorado's drug overdose death rate has increased 14%, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control.
Opioids kill more than 200 Americans every day, according to the National Center for Drug Abuse.
DEA Rocky Mountain Field Division Acting Special Agent in Charge Miguel Chino said the threat is reaching into homes in ways many parents may not recognize.
"That's the problem now with drug dealers — the thing that we're pushing out there also is with emojis. You can do this coded conversation now with emojis. And your child could be speaking to a drug dealer, and you have no idea — even if you got their phone and read it over, you'd have no idea based on these emojis they are ordering drugs from this drug dealer. A lot of times, drugs can be delivered right to the home. They can use cash apps like Venmo or Zelle, actually, to pay for it also," Chino said.
If your child has a cell phone, they have access to a drug dealer, the DEA warns. Emoji codes are often used to place purchase orders, and payments are frequently made via widely used cash apps like Zelle and Venmo.
Fentanyl powder has also become more prevalent in the region, and it is killing people who believe they are using cocaine.
Chino said the DEA's message to young people is straightforward.
"Unless a licensed physician prescribed it and it was obtained from a licensed pharmacy, you shouldn't be taking any of these things. Somebody asks you to take something, it could be the last thing you take," Chino said.
Since the beginning of the year, the Rocky Mountain Field Division has seized millions of fatal doses of fentanyl, in addition to hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine and cocaine.
The DEA's back-to-school message is simple: One pill can kill.
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