The concept that Halloween candy could be poisoned or tainted has been around for a while, and there have been multiple news reports about rainbow fentanyl that could be hiding in children’s Halloween candy this year.
This is for the parents out there because there’s a lot of news about this, so let’s break it down. Rainbow fentanyl is brightly colored powdered fentanyl made to look like candy. Experts and officials say that it is a myth that you will find rainbow fentanyl in your children’s Halloween candy this year.
The DEA issued this warning because they were worried that this more brightly colored version of fentanyl looked like candy and may fall into the hands of children. Dr. Ryan Marino, a medical toxicologist and addiction physician at Case Western Reserve University of School of Medicine in Cleveland, states multicolored pills exist in legitimate pharmaceuticals. He notes that colorful drugs have been a thing for years if not decades.
What Dr. Marino is getting at is that brightly colored drugs, whether legitimate pharmaceuticals or street drugs have been around for many years and brightly colored. Rainbow fentanyl is no exception to this rule.
DEA administration Anne Milgram said on NBC News that at this moment, we have seen nothing to indicate that this will relate to Halloween candy or that drug traffickers will put it into Halloween candy. If anything, worrying about rainbow fentanyl in Halloween Candy takes away from the very real and proven threat of fentanyl overdose death in our young people when fentanyl is made to look like a real prescription drug that is the real fear.
