The Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force recently discovered rainbow fentanyl during a search warrant in Mankato, Minnesota.
“They represent a significant danger to our communities because of the marketing that we have to our kids, and are highly deadly,” says Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans.
Evans says fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that's up to 50 times stronger than heroin, and 100 times stronger than morphine. It is often connected to violent crime.
“The BCA Laboratory has seen a 20% increase in the number of cases where evidence has been seized that includes fentanyl in the last year alone,” Evans explains.
The Drug Enforcement Administration sent a warning in August of an alarming, emerging trend of colorful fentanyl available across the United States. The DEA and their law enforcement partners seized brightly-colored fentanyl and fentanyl pills in 18 states called “rainbow fentanyl”.
This trend appears to be a new method used by drug cartels to sell highly addictive and potentially deadly fentanyl made to look like candy to children and young people.
“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,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgram. “The men and women of the DEA are relentlessly working to stop the trafficking of rainbow fentanyl and defeat the Mexican drug cartels that are responsible for the vast majority of the fentanyl that is being trafficked in the United States.”
Just two milligrams of fentanyl, which is equal to 10-15 grains of table salt, is considered a lethal dose. Without laboratory testing, there is no way to know how much fentanyl is concentrated in a pill or powder.
Fentanyl remains the deadliest drug threat facing the United States. According to the CDC, 107,622 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, with 66% of those deaths related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Drug poisonings are the leading killer of Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.
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