MONTANA - The Drug Enforcement Agency said they have seen an increase of over 200% in overdoses involving fentanyl in Montana since last year.
DEA Montana Resident Agent in Charge Stacy Zinn said a newer concern is rainbow fentanyl (multi-colored fentanyl pills). She said the fist seizure of rainbow fentanyl happened at a gas station in Butte.
"We've seen rainbow fentanyl a couple of times in Montana, but it's not prevalent yet," Zinn said.
"Why are we bringing such emphasis to this?," she continued. "Because kids will not recognize what they are taking. The problem with this is that it entices. It's a marketing ploy. Kids are like, 'Oh, it's pink! It's blue! It's purple! It can't be bad for you.' No, this is bad. What they are doing, is they are also putting a little sugar in it or whatever. They're selling it as, 'This will not harm you or hurt you.' And it will. It will kill you instantly. Meth can kill you in the long run, after multiple uses of years of use. This can kill within 24 hours or less."
Zinn said 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be fatal:
"If someone though hasn't been using fentanyl, they can take as little as this, have an overdose reaction and it can kill them," she said.
Zinn also warned people against buying or borrowing pills from others. She said they have seen pills laced with fentanyl made to look like Xanex or Oxycontin.
"Sometimes what they are buying is not a pharmaceutical pill, made from a pharmaceutical company. They're buying something that's sold off the streets. And that's why we're seeing also an uptick of overdose deaths in our college students. And that is very, very important. It's important to talk to your loved ones about, 'Hey, don't buy pills. Don't borrow pills. Get your pills from a doctor or don't take any at all.'"
