(BIVN) – Hawaii Police on Thursday issued its monthly update on the amount of fentanyl related arrests on the Big Island, which included the quantity of fentanyl recovered for the preceding month.

During the month of October 2023, police say there was a total of three fentanyl related arrests. All three were in East Hawaii.

Police recovered 43 grams of illicit fentanyl last month, and a total of 312 fentanyl pills, all in west Hawaii.

Police say that in recent years, the use of illicit fentanyl has reached epidemic proportions in Hawaii, and that criminal drug networks are mixing this dangerous synthetic opioid into illegal counterfeit pills and selling them as legitimate prescription pills, often with deadly consequences.