Nassau, Suffolk warn about 'rainbow fentanyl'
Rainbow fentanyl pills and powder come in a variety of bright colors, shapes and sizes. Credit: TNS/Drug Enforcement Administration
Drug dealers are offering fentanyl — the deadly synthetic opioid officials say is responsible for most of the fatal overdoses in the United States — in brightly colored pills and powders in an attempt to drive up addiction among children, the Nassau County Police Department has warned on Twitter. “Rainbow fentanyl” is sometimes packaged to resemble sidewalk chalk, Nassau police warned on Twitter this week.
“The Drug Enforcement Administration has noticed an increase in ‘rainbow fentanyl’ pills and powders that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes and sizes,’” the Nassau police alert said. “Some versions of this are designed to resemble sidewalk chalk. This is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive up addiction among children.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakman said fentanyl has not been found in the county but said officials wanted to issue a warning because the synthetic opioid is especially deadly.
Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and was originally intended to treat patients with severe pain, especially after surgery, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
“In the event that is shows up, we want people to be cautious and want people to call 911 if they find it,” Blakeman said. “We do not want people to touch it because even a small amount could be lethal.”
Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said rainbow fentanyl has not been spotted in his county, either, but the nationwide alert issued by the DEA is a call for action.
“Fortunately we have not seen it, but this is something we need to learn from,” Harrison said. “We need to train our officers and alert the community about rainbow fentanyl.”
Harrison said Suffolk police are embarking on an aggressive social media campaign to warn residents about the dangers of fentanyl.
Jeffrey Reynolds, the president and CEO of Family & Children’s Association, said he is not surprised to hear that traffickers are producing kid-friendly fentanyl. He said that is another reason for widespread training and distribution of fentanyl strips and applauded Nassau officials for issuing the alert
“You have to assume fentanyl is in everything because it is. Any street drug in this day and age could contain fentanyl,” he said.
Reynolds, along with other drug treatment providers and law-enforcement officials, has warned for several years that dealers are cutting cocaine and heroin with fentanyl, which is cheap to produce and relatively easy to smuggle into the United States from Mexico or China. Four people died on the East End in August 2021 after using cocaine laced with fentanyl, officials said.
Counterfeit Oxycodone, Xanax and other fake prescription pills have also been laced with deadly amounts of fentanyl, officials said. The pills are often near-perfect copies of legitimate prescription pills, according to authorities.
Blakeman said Nassau officials will soon announce plans to spend millions of dollars recovered from a settlement with opioid manufacturers and distributors. In 2016, Suffolk became the first county in New York to file a lawsuit against drug companies for their role in fueling the opioid epidemic and was later joined Nassau County and the New York Attorney General’s Office in the action.
The complaint said the drug manufacturers and distributors created a public nuisance by downplaying the risk of addiction and dishonestly and aggressively promoting the use of opioid painkillers.
Many of the original defendants — including well-known companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid — agreed to settlements before the lawsuit went to trial in June 2021 in Central Islip, while others reached deals with the state and the counties during the trial.
Blakeman said the county will issue requests for proposals from drug treatment, prevention and education providers over the next few days. Some of the money will be diverted to law enforcement for prevention purposes, he said, but the bulk of the money will be used for recovery programs.
“We are looking for organizations that are effective,” he said.
Drug dealers are offering fentanyl — the deadly synthetic opioid officials say is responsible for most of the fatal overdoses in the United States — in brightly colored pills and powders in an attempt to drive up addiction among children, the Nassau County Police Department has warned on Twitter. “Rainbow fentanyl” is sometimes packaged to resemble sidewalk chalk, Nassau police warned on Twitter this week.
“The Drug Enforcement Administration has noticed an increase in ‘rainbow fentanyl’ pills and powders that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes and sizes,’” the Nassau police alert said. “Some versions of this are designed to resemble sidewalk chalk. This is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive up addiction among children.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakman said fentanyl has not been found in the county but said officials wanted to issue a warning because the synthetic opioid is especially deadly.
Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and was originally intended to treat patients with severe pain, especially after surgery, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
“In the event that is shows up, we want people to be cautious and want people to call 911 if they find it,” Blakeman said. “We do not want people to touch it because even a small amount could be lethal.”
Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said rainbow fentanyl has not been spotted in his county, either, but the nationwide alert issued by the DEA is a call for action.
“Fortunately we have not seen it, but this is something we need to learn from,” Harrison said. “We need to train our officers and alert the community about rainbow fentanyl.”
Harrison said Suffolk police are embarking on an aggressive social media campaign to warn residents about the dangers of fentanyl.
Jeffrey Reynolds, the president and CEO of Family & Children’s Association, said he is not surprised to hear that traffickers are producing kid-friendly fentanyl. He said that is another reason for widespread training and distribution of fentanyl strips and applauded Nassau officials for issuing the alert
“You have to assume fentanyl is in everything because it is. Any street drug in this day and age could contain fentanyl,” he said.
Reynolds, along with other drug treatment providers and law-enforcement officials, has warned for several years that dealers are cutting cocaine and heroin with fentanyl, which is cheap to produce and relatively easy to smuggle into the United States from Mexico or China. Four people died on the East End in August 2021 after using cocaine laced with fentanyl, officials said.
Counterfeit Oxycodone, Xanax and other fake prescription pills have also been laced with deadly amounts of fentanyl, officials said. The pills are often near-perfect copies of legitimate prescription pills, according to authorities.
Blakeman said Nassau officials will soon announce plans to spend millions of dollars recovered from a settlement with opioid manufacturers and distributors. In 2016, Suffolk became the first county in New York to file a lawsuit against drug companies for their role in fueling the opioid epidemic and was later joined Nassau County and the New York Attorney General’s Office in the action.
The complaint said the drug manufacturers and distributors created a public nuisance by downplaying the risk of addiction and dishonestly and aggressively promoting the use of opioid painkillers.
Many of the original defendants — including well-known companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid — agreed to settlements before the lawsuit went to trial in June 2021 in Central Islip, while others reached deals with the state and the counties during the trial.
Blakeman said the county will issue requests for proposals from drug treatment, prevention and education providers over the next few days. Some of the money will be diverted to law enforcement for prevention purposes, he said, but the bulk of the money will be used for recovery programs.
“We are looking for organizations that are effective,” he said.
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