Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen says fentanyl trafficking and seizure numbers in the state have declined significantly since President Trump took office, but a parallel rise in methamphetamine and cocaine trafficking is keeping law enforcement under pressure.
Fentanyl Trend Reversing After Years of Growth
For roughly four years, Montana saw steep increases in fentanyl trafficking, seizures, overdoses, and overdose deaths. Knudsen says that trajectory has now changed, crediting a shift in federal drug enforcement and border policy for the improvement.
“Since President Trump has taken office, those numbers have dropped dramatically here in Montana,” Knudsen said. The attorney general pointed to cooperative agreements he signed with the federal government that allow the Department of Justice to work alongside ICE and Border Patrol on drug interdiction operations as a key factor in the decline.
The agreements formalize coordination between state and federal agencies in ways that Knudsen argues had been lacking under the previous administration, enabling more unified enforcement targeting cartel supply chains before drugs reach Montana communities.
Meth and Cocaine Seizures Climbing
Despite the positive fentanyl numbers, Knudsen was candid about emerging threats. Methamphetamine seizures have increased across the state, and cocaine trafficking has also grown over the past year.
“The bad news. Methamphetamine is back up. I mean, those cartels are not going to stop,” Knudsen said, acknowledging that criminal organizations adapt their operations in response to enforcement pressure on any single drug.
Knudsen offered a separate explanation for rising cocaine seizures, suggesting the trend may be connected to growing wealth moving into the state. Montana has seen significant in-migration and rising income levels in recent years, particularly in resort and recreational communities, which can shift local drug market dynamics.
Cartel Adaptation a Persistent Challenge
The attorney general’s remarks underscore a long-standing challenge in drug enforcement: suppressing one substance often pushes trafficking networks toward others. While a drop in fentanyl — a drug responsible for a disproportionate share of overdose deaths nationally — is a meaningful public health development, the uptick in meth represents a return of a drug that devastated Montana communities throughout the 2000s and 2010s.
Methamphetamine produced by Mexican cartels is generally higher purity and lower cost than domestically manufactured product, making it difficult for law enforcement to curtail through demand-side interventions alone. Knudsen’s comments suggest the state views the federal border and cartel enforcement framework as central to any durable reduction in trafficking volumes.
Montana law enforcement agencies have faced resource pressures on multiple fronts in recent months. Dillon Police recently warned local businesses about a sophisticated QuickBooks fraud scheme that resulted in more than $20,000 in losses, reflecting a range of criminal threats competing for investigative capacity across the state.
What to Watch
Knudsen’s office is expected to continue building on its federal coordination agreements, and the trajectory of meth and cocaine seizures over the coming months will offer an early indication of whether enforcement efforts can bend those trend lines as they have with fentanyl.
State and local prosecutors will also be watching whether the federal policy environment that Knudsen credits for the fentanyl decline remains consistent, particularly as border enforcement and cartel designation policies continue to evolve at the federal level.
For Montana communities, the shifting drug landscape means public health and law enforcement agencies may need to pivot resources and messaging toward meth and cocaine prevention — even as the fentanyl crisis that dominated headlines for years shows signs of easing.
