In recent months, the price of buying fentanyl on the street in the Twin Cities metro fell to $1-$2 a pill, a longtime narcotics investigator for the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.

That’s down from a roughly $20 price point a couple of years ago, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Major Rick Palaia said, adding that’s still about the cost far outside the metro.

Often, a single pill is more than one dose, meaning a dollar purchase could end in multiple overdoses. The “dangerously cheap” price, Maj. Palaia believes, is exacerbating what has already been a crisis. Although it’s tough to quantify such an impact, he added.

Fentanyl is a narcotic that was first created and remains in legal distribution as an intravenous anesthetic used to treat severe pain during or after surgery. In recent years, it’s become increasingly popular on the black market and is often manufactured at the street level, too.

Speaking to the sharp price drop and asked if there’s a similar phenomenon with another illicit opioid to compare it to, Maj. Palaia said, “I’ve never seen anything like this. And I’ve been in this line of work for well over 25 years.”

Fentanyl has consistently been comparatively cheap, likely because it’s easier and cheaper to make than heroin, and because of its potency, fentanyl can be sold in incredibly small, yet deadly quantities, he explained.

“If you get up to northern Minnesota, you’re still looking at like $20 a pill,” Palaia said, chalking that up to supply and demand.

“Our metropolitan area here has become kind of a hub. The cartels feel very comfortable working in this area,” he continued.

“We’re trying to put pressure on them to push them out, but with that comes more supply, which drops price.”

In the few years that Palaia says the price of fentanyl has fallen in the metro, deaths related to opioid overdoses in Hennepin County skyrocketed. To be clear, this does not imply causation, but the deaths are notable in terms of the impact the drug has had on the metro community.

Regarding the price, Palaia said, “It removes the financial barriers, right? Everyone can buy it. Like, it doesn’t matter how old you are, everyone can find one, two dollars.”

In 2023, Hennepin County deputies seized more than 135,000 fentanyl pills and 27 pounds of fentanyl powder, along with 447 guns, according to the Sheriff’s Office. 355 people were indicted in district court and 35 in federal court as a result, Palaia said.

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It’s too soon to tell if that’s impacted the supply or violent crime closely tied to it, he added. Preliminary 2024 data does show overdoses remain on the rise, but there has also been a slight decline in overdose deaths, according to Palaia, who added that he hopes it’s the result of teaching people about Naloxone, better known by the brand name Narcan — the over-the-counter nasal spray that can stop an opioid overdose in its tracks.

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“Whether supply is going down or not, at least the deaths are going down,” Palaia concluded. “And we’ll continue to educate, and we’ll continue to try and take as much fentanyl off the street as we can.”

So far in 2024, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office seized more than 27,000 pills and more than 13 pounds of powder, according to Palaia.

13 pounds may not sound like much, he noted, but it’s enough for about 300,000 potential overdoses.

His best advice was to keep Narcan readily available and know how to use it.

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