‘Rainbow’ fentanyl pills found in Sacramento area. Here’s the danger of the candy look-alike
A street drug known as “rainbow” fentanyl has been found in the Sacramento area, prosecutors said Monday, as they warned residents to be on the lookout for the candy-like pills.
Rainbow fentanyl comes in the form of brightly colored pills, often counterfeit oxycodone M30s, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said in a Monday news release.
“Law enforcement has recently made the first significant rainbow fentanyl fake M30 pill seizure in the Sacramento region,” DA Anne Marie Schubert’s office said in the news release. It was not immediately clear by which law enforcement agency or in which jurisdiction the pills were seized.
The pills bear a resemblance to tablet candies, such as Smarties or SweeTARTS. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in late August issued a statement warning about rainbow fentanyl, and the California Department of Public Health sent a similar alert last month.
“Rainbow fentanyl — fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes, and sizes — is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults,” Anne Milgram, administrator of the DEA, said in a prepared statement.
Local prosecutors in Monday’s news release said 99% of oxycodone pills seized in Sacramento County test positive for fentanyl, and that is “virtually impossible” to tell based on appearance whether a pill contains the dangerous drug.
“If a drug didn’t come from a pharmacy, assume it contains fentanyl,” the DA’s Office wrote.
At the start of last week, all Sacramento City Unified School District schools began distributing Narcan, a brand of naloxone spray that can be used to reverse opioid overdoses.
Sacramento City Unified, in an Oct. 7 statement announcing the unanimous vote on Narcan, cited the CDPH alert about rainbow fentanyl.
California recorded 261 fentanyl overdose deaths among those ages 10 through 19 in 2020, a more than sevenfold increase compared to 36 deaths in 2018, CDPH said in its September news release on rainbow fentanyl.
This story was originally published October 17, 2022 at 12:18 PM.
