Adams County Sheriff's Office says no known cases of kids taking rainbow fentanyl, but urge caution among parents
With Halloween approaching and fentanyl a prevalent problem, law enforcement wants the public to know the difference between the appearance of rainbow fentanyl and candy, like Skittles.
The North Metro Task Force, an Adam's County drug investigation agency, has recovered hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills so far this year, compared to just a few hundred last year. In the last few months, the pills are looking more colorful.
"They're starting to morph from your traditional white pressed pill, they're looking a little more like your traditional candies," says Sgt. Adam Sherman with the Adam's County Sheriff's Office.
So-called "rainbow fentanyl" is a way for dealers to disguise the drug as candy.
"Mainly as a way of disguise," says Sherman, "and there's also been some alerts put out by the DEA that it's also a way to attract younger users. We haven't necessarily seen that here in the Denver metro area."
In some cases, drug dealers are taking it a step further. Law enforcement on the East Coast has documented incidents of fentanyl being smuggled in candy packages like Nerds. While authorities haven't seen that in Colorado yet, the risk is still there.
"If it's happening in one area, its most likely happening, we just haven't seen it yet," says Commander Alex Kondos with the North Metro Task Force.
While dealers may package drugs as candy, Kondos says there's no reason to believe they're trying to target children, plus giving their product away would be bad business.
"It wasn't necessarily that they were distributing these bags to folks as candy it was a way to facilitate smuggling to evade law enforcement," says Kondos.
But around Halloween, drugs that look like candy pose an undeniable risk.
"By putting it in those wrappers is there a risk that maybe one of those bags gets somewhere it shouldn't be and maybe someone gets a hold of it? Absolutely," says Kondos.
"If a child either is exposed to it touches it eats it and starts having a medical reaction there is a risk there," Sherman says. However, he says the risk is not a reason to keep your kids from trick-or-treating, but parents should be mindful.
"Go through the candy. Anything that's unwrapped, throw away. Anything that looks like it's tampered with or if it's out of a wrapper or somehow torn, just dispose of it," Sherman says.
The sheriff's office recommends keeping an eye on your child while they eat their candy, if they began acting ill or drowsy, call 911 and seek medical attention immediately.
