Law enforcement leaders unite against drugs

CHEYENNE — Monday morning, local and regional law enforcement leaders, in coordination with the local U.S. Attorney’s office, held a press conference in Cheyenne to reaffirm their combined efforts to disrupt drug trafficking, reduce overdose deaths and hold criminals responsible for distributing drugs.

Darin Smith, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Wyoming, along with Dave Olesky, Special Agent in Charge for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak, and Jeremy Wicht, training manager for Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, spoke about the ongoing effort to fight drug trafficking and substance abuse. Smith began by touting the teamwork that has occurred between local, state and federal law enforcement. He also endorsed President Donald Trump’s Take Back America operation.

“Thanks to Operation Take Back America, we have all the resources we need,” Smith said. “They have given freely to make sure that we have the resources we need to prosecute, to go after, to target the bad guys.”

Resources for Operation Take Back America are streamlined from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods. The press conference also brought attention to the DEA’s Fentanyl Free America initiative, which integrates enforcement alongside prevention and public awareness.

Olesky touched on the “education piece of the campaign, and the three pillars: protect, prevent and support.”

Smith championed the safety of Wyoming while still bringing attention to how the issue of drug trafficking impacts everyone. 

“Wyoming is arguably the safest place in America,” he said. “But we still have problems in the state.”

Olesky of the DEA touched on the sheer volume of the fentanyl crisis when it peaked in 2013, with 110,000 drug poisonings and overdoses occurring that year. That number decreased to 70,000 drug-related deaths last year, but he stressed the “reality remains that cartels designated as foreign terrorist organizations continue to threaten the national security of our nation and poison Americans.”

And he stated that, “As far as the DEA is concerned, so far this year, nearly 6,000 fentanyl pills have been seized here in the state of Wyoming.”

This is up from the total of 5,500 pills seized all of last year, but Wicht with RMHIDTA had this perspective on the uptick in seizures: “It’s a good thing that we’re taking them off the street before they get to communities where it does the most harm in neighborhoods.”

He added context to the information by saying, “Overdose rates have continued to drop in the state. The most current CDC reporting by Wyoming indicates an 18.5% decline over the January 2025 to January 2026 time period.”

Both during the press conference and after, Olesky was frank about how this issue reaches far and wide, from New York to here in Cheyenne.

“There’s no part of Wyoming or any part of our country that is immune from what is currently taking place around our nation with the threat of fentanyl,” he said.

He also took a very empathetic approach to how important talking about these issues can be.

“While one pill can kill, I like to say one conversation can save,” he said. 

He touched on his own experiences speaking with parents who have lost their child, and their response of “You don’t want to be me.”

“Overdose rates have continued to drop in the state,” Olesky said. “The most current CDC reporting by Wyoming indicates an 18.5% decline over the January 2025 to January 2026 time period.”

Both Olesky and Kozak celebrated the coordination and collaboration between agencies to ensure none are siloed off and working in the dark. And Olesky credited Kozak for not only “the great work they’re doing,” but also the fact that “they are the front lines, the patrol officers, the highway patrol.”

Kozak doubled down on this, saying, “We are so happy with the partnerships we have with the U.S. government.” He spoke on the benefits of this teamwork, adding, “We value our law enforcement partners. It takes all of us together to investigate these crimes and hold the offenders accountable.”

Smith concluded with a promise to criminals that they would “use every tool, use every resource and use every agency at our disposal to bring you to justice.”

This story was published on July 14, 2026. 

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