HOLLADAY, Utah, Oct. 14, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — Salt Lake County law enforcement officials are warning the public about the dangers of synthetic opioids, specifically a new form known as “rainbow fentanyl.”
The Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office says rainbow fentanyl in powder form was seized earlier this month in the Salt Lake Valley. The drug comes in a variety of bright colors, may look like candy and in some cases resembles sidewalk chalk, police said.
Law enforcement officials are concerned the colorful drug could be used to entice children or younger adults.
“The narcotics landscape is constantly changing, and current trends lead us to believe that the opioid crisis will grow,” Salt Lake City Police Lt. Sam Wolf said at a news conference Friday at Unified Fire Authority Station No. 104 in Holladay.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is added to fake pills and “continues to be a driving factor in the alarming increase of overdoses nationwide,” Salt Lake City police said in a news release.
When added to pills, fentanyl can be impossible for the human eye to detect or differentiate between an authentic pill, police said. The drug is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, the release states.
Police also reminded the public to never take a pill that wasn’t prescribed to them by a licensed physician.
“Fake pills are impossible to differentiate from authentic pills and just two milligrams of fentanyl is a potentially lethal dose,” said Wolf, who leads the Salt Lake Valley DEA Task Force.
Law enforcement officials in Utah have seized more that 500,000 fake pills this year, more than doubling the number of fake pills seized in 2021, Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said.
“Seizing this many pills shows how effective the DEA task force and other partners are at keeping our communities and children safe,” Rivera said.
Police say signs of a fentanyl overdose include blue lips or blue fingertips, unresponsive to sternal rub, body stiffening, foaming at the mouth and confusion.
Naloxone can treat fentanyl overdose by rapidly binding to opioid receptors and blocking the effects of opioid drugs, police said. The medicine is carried by law enforcement officials throughout the Salt Lake Valley, including Salt Lake City police.
“Our intention is not to alarm people but to inform the public of the evolving threat that fentanyl poses to our community and to urge caution,” said Dr. Graham Brant-Zawadzki, UFA medical director. “If someone in your home uses opioids of any kind, it is important to keep naloxone on hand to reverse an overdose.”
For more information about fake pills, visit www.dea.gov/onepill.
