Rainbow fentanyl a special threat to kids

TUCSON, Ariz (KGUN) — That colorful rainbow fentanyl hitting Tucson streets can be an extra threat to young children.

Because fentanyl is used in counterfeit drugs, many people get a dose of fentanyl when they think they’re getting a different, less powerful drug. But with rainbow fentanyl there is a danger a child will ingest it thinking it’s a fistful of candy.

At the Arizona Poison and Information Center Doctor Steve Dudley knows the danger when hazardous products come in colors and designs likely to attract very young kids.

“We see things all the time that when they are brightly colored, or you know, in the shape of a cartoon or an animal or things like that, you know, young children are definitely more likely to get into them.”

Now there’s an especially dangerous item that comes in the colors of the rainbow. Fentanyl, already used in blue pills meant to imitate oxycodone, has been coming across the border in rainbow colors.

Doctor Dudley says if a drug user is so careless they leave a bag of rainbow pills where a young child can find them, that child could easily think a dangerous drug is just a handful of candy.

“That's really a young child thing that's, you know, five and under issue that we're promoting….When you're talking about teenagers and above, you know, they're going to experiment, they're going to experiment and I think the packaging is less important there.”

Doctor Dudley says for drug dealers fentanyl is so cheap and easy to get, they’re adding it into all sorts of other drugs. He says even marijuana has been found spiked with fentanyl so someone could not know they’re taking in a drug powerful enough to kill in tiny amounts.

Doctor Dudley says it’s hard to know if rainbow fentanyl has been involved in any local overdoses. A drug test will detect fentanyl but not what color it was. The only way to know if it could have been rainbow fentanyl is if unused pills were left behind.