The Ohio Attorney General has warned residents that “rainbow fentanyl” has been seized for the first time in the state.
Attorney General Dave Yost announced earlier this month that the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office had seized 1,025 brightly colored pills as part of a Columbus-area drug trafficking investigation into rainbow fentanyl.
The tablets are designed to resemble candy. Drug traffickers use drugs to promote addiction among young people, Yost said. “Don’t let the looks fool you, rainbow fentanyl is death disguised as candy,” Yost says. “Importantly, if you’re taking a drug your doctor hasn’t prescribed, you can’t be sure what you’re taking.”
The pills were manufactured in Mexico but were stolen by Franklin County legislators before they could be distributed.
“We are certainly proud of the hard work of the Special Investigations Unit and the BCI lab,” said Rick Minerd, Chief Deputy of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. “The sad reality is that drug traffickers continue to hover at all-time lows, marketing deadly products to Americans of all ages for the sole purpose of monetizing addiction.”
Fentanyl has been found in multiple forms, including a colored powder and in combination with other drugs, in drugs seized during investigations.
But this was the agency’s first case of rainbow fentanyl, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said it was a deliberate effort by traffickers to hide the deadly fentanyl in a way that would appeal to U.S. youth. I am warning you.
This deadly drug has emerged in many states across the country.
In 2022, Ohio laboratory officials identified fentanyl in 9,151 items submitted by law enforcement agencies, accounting for 22.1% of all drug analyses. Already in 2023, BCI laboratories processed 2,306 items containing fentanyl.
Additionally, Ohio laboratory officials continue to confirm fentanyl analogues, including parafluorofentanyl, found in 6.4% of all drug analyzes performed in 2022.
read more:
32-year-old Wisconsin man dies in lone vehicle crash on Upper Peninsula
Two Michigan men arrested after police discover Escalade loaded with stolen frozen fish
A man on the wanted list in Michigan reports to 911 and warns that he will put the pig in a body bag and send it back