PLACER COUNTY, Calif. — The Placer County District Attorney's Office is warning people about rainbow-colored fentanyl that may be marketed to minors.
“To be clear, all fentanyl purchased on the street is deadly, no matter the color, shape, size, or form,” said Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire in a statement, “Yet we find this rainbow-colored substance is one of the many tools that dealers are using to make the poison appeal to our kids. Any form of narcotic that does not come from a doctor’s prescription could be lethal, but we want the community to know these multi-colored powders are one of the trends we are seeing in the fentanyl market.”
Rainbow-colored fentanyl is just as deadly as white or blue fentanyl, according to the Placer County District Attorney's Office. There has been a 450% increase in fentanyl deaths between 2018-2021 in Placer County, according to the district attorney's office.
It comes at a time when the district attorney says nearly half the fentanyl deaths in Placer County have been under 25 years old. Much of it is being advertised to young people on social media, on platforms like Snapchat.
Many parents like Laura Didier don't know this was even happening and some teenagers like her son pay a deadly price.
“The day and age of experimentation being relatively harmless is over. It’s Russian roulette out there," Didier said. "You might try something for the first or second time and that’s all it takes.”
One counterfeit pill laced with fentanyl was all it took to kill her 17-year-old son Zach in 2020. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Whitney High School senior bought what he thought was Percocet marketed on Snapchat to cope with stress. The decision cost him his life.
"I wish I would have known about fentanyl. I wish I had known that had to be a part of any drug conversation that we had. I wish I had known that these counterfeit pills existed," Didier said. "I really believe he would have made a different choice if he really understood what was out there.”
With rainbow-colored fentanyl, dealers are taking a new approach to appeal to young people.
“We are in epidemic proportions of the fentanyl crisis,” Gire told ABC10.
Gire said the rainbow-colored drug is just as deadly as the white powder. All it takes is two milligrams, which is a pinch about the size of a penny.
“We will continue to hold dealers accountable but really the messages have to start with the parents and the kids and have discussions about what’s affecting kids and what’s creating the desire to experiment with ultimately deadly street drugs,” Gire said.
Didier said open conversations about the dangers have to be had early and often. She said doing so might have kept her son alive.
“I know he won’t be forgotten, and I know he would want us to help other people. I know that is what he would want us to do. He would not want us to know all of this and not warn other kids his age,” she said.
According to the CDC, from April 2020 to April 2021, more than 100,000 people died from drug overdoses in the United States, which is an increase of around 28% from the same period the prior year.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 100x stronger than morphine, according to the CDC. Most of the recent cases of fentanyl overdoses are linked to illicitly manufactured fentanyl as opposed to pharmaceutical fentanyl.
Local counties are trying to crack down on the issue and make an example of dealers who target kids online.
In the case of Zach Didier, the person who sold him fentanyl pleaded guilty in court and his sentencing is coming up Sept. 1. His family hopes the punishment sends a message to would-be dealers to put an end to these marketing campaigns for good.
Find more information about fentanyl at Placer County's website.
Watch more on ABC10: Interview | Parents of Placer County teen who died of fentanyl poisoning warn other families
