PHOENIX -- Attorney General Mark Brnovich warns Arizonans, especially parents, to be extra careful this Halloween and to be aware of "rainbow fentanyl," which could easily be confused for candy. The bright, multi-colored pills have been compared to popular trick-or-treating favorites like Smarties and Skittles.
"While most of us associate rainbows with happiness, success, and a pot of gold at the end … drug cartels see things differently," says Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich. "They have no respect for our values or culture -- and they continue to flood our streets with deadly fentanyl pills that are now arriving in various colors and rainbow patterns. Protect yourselves and your children by not assuming that every colorful pill is candy this Halloween season. Do not eat any treats or take any medication unless they are properly packaged and from a source you trust. Fentanyl can kill. Please talk to your kids and be safe."
Since August, CPB officials have made several massive seizures of the deadly, candy-colored pills. The DEA says just two milligrams -- the equivalent of 10-15 grains of table salt -- can be fatal.
In the past three years, fentanyl seizures along our southern border have tripled, according to numbers by Customs and Border Protection, skyrocketing from 4.5K pounds in FY 2020 to 14K pounds in FY 2022.
The CDC reports more than 107,000 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2021. More than two-thirds of those deaths are attributed to fentanyl.
AGTV spoke with General Brnovich about the newest candy-colored version of dangerous fentanyl coming across the border.
To read more on the DEA's warning about "rainbow fentanyl," click here.
Customs and Border Protection has monthly updates on all of the drugs seized along our southern border.
To learn more, click here.
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