Sen. Chuck Schumer warns drug dealers are pushing rainbow fentanyl to children
NEW YORK -- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is pleading for financial help to battle fentanyl, the deadliest drug in our area.
CBS2's Thalia Perez has more on how drug dealers have made the drug more appealing to children.
They're brightly colored pills that resemble candy called "rainbow fentanyl."
"Simply put, it is not candy," Schumer said. "They don't tell the kids it's candy, but they say, 'Oh, this will give you a great high,' and it looks innocent, so the kids are far more likely to take it."
But the highly addictive pills are deadly and Schumer says he's calling for $290 million in federal funding to fight this latest fentanyl trafficking war. For one woman, the fight is personal.
"I actually have a nephew that died of an overdose from fentanyl. It's a shame that we've let this go on for as long as we have," the woman said.
Schumer says the colorful pills have been around for about six months. He said the federal money would be used to fund 61 special teams nationwide that go after drug dealers and educate kids about the danger of the new rainbow fentanyl.
"So, when you get children hooked on a drug like fentanyl, like other opioids, at an early age, they essentially become customers for life for these drug traffickers, and that's unacceptable," said Dr. Mikhail Varshavski of Family Medicine.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 100,306 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, an increase of 28.5 percent from the same period in 2020.
Doctors say fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin.
The federal budget will be voted on this week.
