LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Three members of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Omaha Division arrived at the Nebraska State Capitol Thursday, concluding their 1,400-mile trip to raise awareness for Red Ribbon Week.

The ride included stops at Capitol buildings in the five states that make up the DEA Omaha Division: Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The goal of the ride is to raise awareness for Red Ribbon Week, the nation’s oldest and largest drug abuse prevention and awareness program, which runs Oct. 23-31. DEA Omaha said they decided to make the trip a little earlier this year because the weather at the end of the month is unpredictable in the Midwest.

“The drugs we see today are very different from the ones I grew up with, and they are much more dangerous and they are killing people left and right,” said Special Agent in Charge Steven T. Bell. Omaha division of the DEA. “Drugs don’t discriminate, they don’t care what you are, who you are, where you’re from, and if you take something that has fentanyl in it, there’s a good chance you’ll get overdose and you would die.

In the Midwest, fentanyl and methamphetamine remain the top two drugs seized by the DEA in 2024.

To date, approximately 3.5 million lethal doses of fentanyl have been removed from five state divisions, along with nearly 3,000 pounds of methamphetamine. While fentanyl pill seizures are trending down, fentanyl powder seizures jumped 21 percent and methamphetamine seizures jumped about 50 percent, according to DEA Omaha.

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