Cocaine, The Mexican Drug Cartels, and Big Sky, Montana

Major cities all across the country have been seeing massive spikes in crime, but we also know that the Mexican Drug Cartels are fueling an increase in crime right here in Montana as well. Larger Montana cities like Billings and Missoula, and our Native American Reservations have been hit hard. But the drug cartels are starting to pay more attention to Bozeman, Montana as well.

We caught up with Stacy Zinn-Brittain, the head of the DEA here in Montana. She has countless tours down in South America and overseas in Afghanistan with the DEA. She joined us on the radio to promote the big National Drug Take Back Event taking place on Saturday in Billings.

Aaron Flint: "We had caller a while back. They heard you speak and you said- hey, Bozeman, it's coming your way too this Fentanyl crisis and crime increase and more."

Stacy Zinn-Brittain (DEA): "Bozeman is a different animal because we have a cocaine pipeline going through that area, and we have two cartels that are sitting up in that general region. Bozeman is being hit with that product because cocaine is a rich man's drug. So we still see high profits being made off that drug. So you see cocaine going through Big Sky ending up in the Bozeman area. Of course, you have the psychedelic drugs too because of the colleges down there. So Bozeman has got their fair share of drug activity in that area..."

Aaron Flint: "And the cartels are seeing an increased focus there as well. All the wealthy folks flying in and out fueling the cocaine- the cartels see an opportunity. Wow."

By the way, the reason we were chatting with Stacy was to promote the upcoming Drug Take Back event this Saturday at the fire station on 24th Street West in Billings. This is a great opportunity to get rid of any unused prescriptions- pills, patches, vape pens etc- and keep them out of the hands of addicts and/or criminals. For those outside the Billings area, definitely check in with your local law enforcement to see if a drug take back event is happening in your area.

Here's some more info thanks to the US Attorney's office in Montana:

The DEA will have a drop off location in Billings at the Billings Fire Station #5, 605 S. 24^th Street W. More than 28 sheriff’s offices, police departments and federal agencies across Montana are participating in Take Back Day. Information about collection sites and more information about event is available here: https://takebackday.dea.gov/

During the last Take Back Day held on Oct. 29, 2022, 4,340 law enforcement participants at 4,902 collection sites across the country brought in a total weight of 647,163 pounds, or 324 tons, of drugs. This brings the total weight collected to 16.6 million pounds, or more than 8,318 tons, of prescription drugs collected in the history of the program.

Check out the full audio of our chat with Stacy Zinn-Brittain from the DEA below: