SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Police say they have been seeing more rainbow-colored fentanyl pills in the past few months. The drug itself has been found in candy wrappers and most recently a drug bust in Los Angeles County.
However, when it comes to the deadly drug showing up in children's trick-or-treat bags, experts say people can rest easy.
"The consensus is that the fentanyl, even though we've seen this quote 'rainbow fentanyl' come into the scene, I think the likelihood of that showing up in Halloween candy is low," said Dr. Patrick Daubert, emergency medicine physician at Kaiser Permanente.
Nonetheless, that isn't to say there aren't other ways kids and young adults can get their hands on it, and there are familiar tactics in trying to get kids' attention that don't include trick-or-treat bags.
"This happened with ecstasy, with making pills different colors, making special stamps on them to attract the population," Dr. Daubert said.
Police are on the lookout. Law enforcement recently made its first seizure of rainbow fentanyl pills in the Sacramento region. All it takes is two milligrams of fentanyl to kill someone.
Dr. Daubert said fentanyl can get in children's hands disguised as other illicit drugs they want to experiment with.
"I'm sure they're aware of the the title oxycodone, which is another medication that has been as a prescription drug that's entered the street. But fentanyl has entered into that oxycodone world, and you're looking at a much, much different type of opioid than oxycodone and far more dangerous," he said.
Dr. Daubert is emphasizing open and truthful conversations between parents and their children. Parents should know what to look out for.
"It should look weird and abnormal to, I think in both the fentanyl cases that we're seeing, are people that have gone in specific search for a street drug, oxycodone or Xanax or something along those medications and then they're getting into trouble," he said.
It's a kind of trouble children or teenagers might not survive. One thing people could consider in their home is Narcan or Naloxone and emergency overdose reversal medicine.
"It's an extremely safe medication. It's extremely easy to learn how to use," Dr. Daubert said.
There's also a new tool parent's can use to assess what's going on with your kids. It's a new substance use risk assessment online in partnership with Kaiser Permanente, which is available HERE. Kids can take it as well.
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