Tucson police detail fentanyl supply, overdose deaths and efforts to combat drug trafficking

Fentanyl remains a serious and changing threat in Tucson, where police say the city’s location near the U.S. Mexico border and along major interstate routes makes it an important stopping point in the national drug supply. New 2026 overdose figures show that deaths continue even as the number of fentanyl pills seized by authorities has fallen. For Tucson residents, the danger is not limited to people who knowingly use opioids. Counterfeit pills, fentanyl mixed into other drugs and inconsistent potency can make it difficult to know what someone is taking until it is too late.

Tucson police Officer James Horton said fentanyl was not a major presence when he began his career, but it has since become widespread. He described the drug as relatively inexpensive to produce and easy to transport, commonly appearing in pill or powder form. Police say much of the supply enters the United States through the U.S. Mexico border, with Nogales serving as a major entry point. Tucson is often one of the first destinations after drugs cross the border, before shipments continue toward Phoenix and other parts of the country.

Interstates 19 and 10 connect Tucson to those distribution networks and to markets elsewhere in Arizona and the country. That geography has helped establish Tucson as a location where narcotics can be moved, sold or transferred. Horton said responding to the problem cannot be left to one agency or one level of government. Local, county, state and federal law enforcement must work with public health officials, treatment providers and community organizations to disrupt trafficking while also reducing deaths.

The numbers show why that response remains urgent. Tucson recorded 397 overdose related deaths in 2023, followed by 291 in 2024 and 339 in 2025. The city reported 165 overdose deaths from January through June 2026. Those totals include deaths involving substances other than fentanyl, but police identify fentanyl and methamphetamine as the two drugs most commonly associated with fatal overdoses. Adult men make up most of the people who die from overdoses, according to the figures referenced by police.

At the same time, authorities seized approximately 120 million pills in 2023, 80 million in 2024 and 40 million in 2025. The decline in seizures has not produced a corresponding, steady decline in deaths. Horton said one reason is the lack of quality control in illicit drug production. A batch may contain a stronger concentration than users expect, or its contents may vary from one pill or packet to the next. People who believe they are buying another drug may also unknowingly consume fentanyl.

Tucson police use the department’s VIVA program to focus on areas where officers see signs of drug activity. By identifying criminal hot spots, police seek to locate suspected sellers and make arrests. Horton also emphasized that enforcement is only one part of the response. Naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan, can reverse an opioid overdose, and Tucson residents can obtain it through several local resources that also provide information about treatment and substance use.

The difficulties facing Tucson reflect a larger drug market that has challenged communities across the country. An extensive investigation of San Francisco’s open air drug markets found that Mexican cartels supply fentanyl and other narcotics to street dealers, including hundreds of Honduran migrants identified in the city’s markets. The investigation described how poverty, violence and limited educational and employment opportunities in Honduras helped drive migration, while demand for drugs in the United States created an opportunity for cartel distribution networks.

San Francisco’s experience also illustrates why arrests alone have not eliminated drug markets. Closing one market can push activity to another neighborhood, and jailing or deporting dealers can lead to their rapid replacement. Arresting people who use drugs may place them in facilities without comprehensive treatment, and a later loss of drug tolerance can increase overdose risk. City officials there have tried combining enforcement with treatment offers, housing and other services, but many people have declined assistance. One former dealer, Melvin Lopez, said he left drug sales after becoming troubled by the harm caused to users, developing an alcohol problem and surviving a gunshot wound. He argued that undocumented dealers also need work permits and realistic access to legal employment.

San Francisco officials and community advocates have debated whether money directed toward enforcement would be more effective if spent on doctors, nurses, counselors, housing and jobs. The city’s experience includes a long standing practice of concentrating homelessness, social services and open air drug activity in the Tenderloin, leaving residents and businesses to live with the consequences. Those conditions underscore the broader challenge for Tucson: trafficking is connected to border routes, international suppliers, local demand, poverty, addiction and access to care. Horton’s warning is that no single strategy will solve it. For Tucson families, businesses and neighborhoods, preventing deaths will require sustained coordination, wider access to naloxone and treatment, and continued efforts to interrupt the supply before it reaches the city.