No evidence to suggest rainbow fentanyl is targeting kids Transcript

Speaker 1: (00:01)
So rumors or reports, they seem to be interchangeable these days when no one really knows the truth. When I was a kid, there was this seasonal scare of razor blades in apples or needles hidden in Halloween candy. Remember that? Did that ever really happen? It’s kind of like the basis of the term urban legend. Yet we kept hearing about those things happening and they keep coming up recycled every generation or so. Have you heard of the rainbow fentanyl yet?

Speaker 1: (00:27)
Well, fentanyl is a very dangerous synthetic drug and it kills a lot of people for sure. But now that people are making the pills in rainbow colors, the DEA says drug dealers are doing this to intentionally target your kids. And now that has escalated to the fear of that rainbow ending up in a trick-or-treat bag alongside the other taste the rainbow candy. Is it legit or is it, well, kind of a little less than a lie?

Speaker 1: (00:48)
Well, Andrew Bartlein spoke with different police agencies and even some local hospitals today about this. So the question is, are children actually getting their hands on this fentanyl rainbow or otherwise?

Andrew Bartlein: (00:57)
Well, from what we’ve been able to get confirmed on the record today, to be blunt, no, they’re not, which might be a surprise to people considering ISP found rainbow fentanyl in our state more than a month ago. They haven’t found any evidence to suggest this rainbow fentanyl is any different from the regular forms of fentanyl, it’s just a different color. Now, it is a very dangerous and deadly drug, as Brian mentioned. It’s very addictive and small amounts can lead to an overdose and death, but the idea that colorful pills are a special novelty just to target your kids, there just isn’t evidence for it.

Speaker 3: (01:31)
I personally have not seen any intel or intelligence that would suggest that children were specifically targeted.

Dr. Kroll: (01:40)
I haven’t been seeing anyone coming in from this rainbow fentanyl finding it at the park, any of those specific cases. We have had fentanyl overdoses in younger populations. I know that it’s out there.

Andrew Bartlein: (01:53)
Boise Police also says they haven’t seen any evidence for rainbow fentanyl in schools or specifically targeting kids. So why is the drug form changing? Well, ISP doesn’t know for sure. Maybe the people who make these drugs simply ran out of blue dye, but part of the reason they think could be that the people who make these drugs no longer have an incentive to make fentanyl look like a normal and real pill.

Speaker 3: (02:17)
Initially, when Fentanyl hit the West, in particular, it was brought here in pill form. So pills that were pressed and mocked up to look like oxycodone 30 pills. And those were some iteration of blue, sometimes it was light blue, dark blue, et cetera. And they were marketed as legitimate pharmaceuticals.

Speaker 3: (02:41)
Well, nobody believes that anymore, that these pills that are being sold on the street as Oxy 30s, nobody believes that they’re actually Oxy 30s. Everybody understands that these are fentanyl pills. If they weren’t prescribed by a doctor and purchased at a legitimate pharmacy, they’re fentanyl pills.

Dr. Kroll: (03:02)
I just think the best thing is to talk to your kids about being really aware like, “Don’t pick up and eat anything off the ground,” if they’re younger. “Don’t take anything from your friends to say, ‘Here, you got a headache. Take some pain pills.'” Just making sure that your kids know where they’re getting whatever it is they’re going to eat or take, and just really a lot of education because it is, it’s out there.

Andrew Bartlein: (03:23)
Now, you just heard Dr. Kroll at Saint Alphonsus emphasize the importance of talking to your kids about fentanyl. She says younger people are overdosing on fentanyl and Idaho is seeing more overdose deaths as a whole compared to last year. That also follows a national trend. So it is a big deal, but from the statements you hear from some police departments across the country saying, “Watch out in parks, there’s rainbow fentanyl,” the Adams County Sheriff’s Office here in Idaho kind of had a similar post on Facebook last week, just the evidence isn’t there, and maybe it’s happened somewhere. Maybe somebody got a razor blade in their candy somewhere, but this idea that it’s widespread and this is an intentional target toward kids, we’re just not seeing that in Idaho.

Speaker 1: (03:59)
Yeah. Just like the satanic scare in the 80s as well. And we’re not trying to discourage you from checking your kids’ Halloween candy, for sure. Go at that. That’s not what we’re saying. It’s just that this idea where all of a sudden it’s becoming this is for sure going to happen to you, or it is already happening to you, is one of those things we kind of want to nip in the butt. At least get some discussion about it.

Andrew Bartlein: (04:17)
Well, and you think, honestly, if you’re a drug dealer, are 11-year-old’s going to be your best clients? Just think logically about it. It does not make a lot of sense.

Speaker 1: (04:25)
All right. Well, thank you for clearing at least a good chunk of that up for us. Thank you, Andrew.