According to a press release from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation identified some confiscated drugs as “rainbow fentanyl” for the first time in the state.
The attorney general’s office said that the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office discovered the 1,025 candy-like, brightly colored tablets while conducting a narcotics trafficking investigation in the Columbus region.
“You know we’ve been hearing about this rainbow fentanyl which is pills that are every color of the rainbow. It looks like sweet tarts or some kind of candy. Now we are seeing it in Ohio for the first time and it ought to be scaring every parent and every teacher because this is targeted at kids,” Yost said.
The Bureau of Criminal Investigation discovered fentanyl in substances confiscated during investigations in various forms, including colored powders and mixed with other drugs. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has cautioned that rainbow fentanyl is an intentional attempt by traffickers to disguise lethal fentanyl in a form enticing to young Americans. This analysis marks the bureau’s first case of this substance in Ohio.
Yost warned that the Mexican-made tablets are harmful and sold to people of all ages in the United States to profit from addiction.
“These particular pills originated in Mexico but were intercepted by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office before they could be distributed. The DEA says that this is a deliberate ploy by the drug cartels to try to reach kids to try to broaden their market to hit young people,” Yost said.
According to Chief Deputy Rick Minerd of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, he is proud of the diligent work of the Special Investigations Unit and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s lab in keeping these drugs off of the street.
“The sad reality is drug traffickers continue to stoop to all-time lows, marketing their deadly products to Americans of all ages for the sole purpose of monetizing addiction,” Minerd said.
Yost urged law enforcement organizations in Ohio to be aware of the risks associated with fentanyl exposure. Since fentanyl comes in a variety of forms and law enforcement is increasingly finding it mixed with other drugs, law enforcement officials should take all reasonable precautions and treat all drug evidence as if it were harmful.
According to Yost, the federal government needs to enforce the laws at the border to keep these dangerous drugs from entering Ohio and the nation.
“We are sending out the word to parents and teachers to be careful and watch out for this. Don’t assume that something that is multi-colored and candy looking is candy. It could be a poison that could kill someone you love. My message to the federal government is please do your job. Please enforce the laws at the border. This stuff is flooding across and it’s impacting all of our communities. Even if you can’t win the war on drugs at least slow down the river,” the attorney general said.
The Bureau of Criminal Investigation Lab found fentanyl in 9,151 items submitted by law enforcement in 2022, accounting for 22.1 percent of total drug analyses. The Bureau of Criminal Investigation lab handled 2,306 fentanyl-containing products in 2023.
In addition, the lab is still finding fentanyl analogs, such as para-flouorfentanyl, which they discovered in 6.4 percent of all drug studies done in 2022.
The deadly pills have been showing up in many states throughout the country.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid similar to morphine but is 50 to 100 times more potent. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) notes that a 2-3 milligram dose is fatal in most adults. Pharmacies also make the powerful drug for legal prescription use.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a report last year, saying that for the first time in modern history, over 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in a year. Fentanyl and other synthetic drugs caused approximately two-thirds of those deaths.
The Ohio Department of Health states that fentanyl took part in 81 percent of overdose deaths in 2020, often in combination with other drugs. That percentage was up from 76 percent in 2019, 73 percent in 2018, and 71 percent in 2017.
The DEA states that drug cartels have expanded their inventory to sell fentanyl pills in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes to make the drugs more appealing to the user.
According to the United States Department of Justice, the DEA first received reports of rainbow fentanyl in February of last year, and they have now found it in 21 states.
The criminal investigation remains ongoing.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected]
