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* NPR…
In August, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration alerted the public to the existence of bright-colored fentanyl pills that resemble candy — now dubbed “rainbow fentanyl.” The DEA warned that the pills were a deliberate scheme by drug cartels to sell addictive fentanyl to children and young people.
Although the agency didn’t mention Halloween specifically, people remain alarmed this holiday following the DEA’s warning.
Drug experts, however, say that there is no new fentanyl threat to kids this Halloween. […]
Dr. Ryan Marino, medical toxicologist, emergency physician and addiction medicine specialist at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, also points to the upcoming midterm elections.
“It also seems to have become heavily politicized because this is a very tense election year with very intense partisan politics,” he said. “It also seems as if people are using fentanyl for political purposes.”
* Today, Fox News published an opinion piece online titled “Halloween fentanyl from Biden’s border crisis the latest horror from this administration” but with no examples. Rep. Mary Miller is also guilty of this Halloween hoax…
The Biden Border Crisis is posing a serious threat to our children. As Halloween approaches, we must warn parents that cartels are trafficking and selling rainbow fentanyl to appeal to kids. These pills are deadly, and parents should carefully check over Halloween candy this year pic.twitter.com/9MlHzsl8mm
— Rep. Mary Miller (@RepMaryMiller) September 29, 2022
* The Tribune reported on a bill earlier this month that would increase penalties for dealing “rainbow fentanyl”…
DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick was looking over bulletins from other law enforcement agencies when he saw something that chilled him — an alert about a new kind of fentanyl that he said, “looks exactly like SweeTarts candy.” […]
He relayed his concerns to state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst) and recently she and some Republican colleagues introduced a bill that would add five years to the prison sentence of anyone convicted of selling fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, in that guise. […]
Laura Fry, of Live4Lali, an overdose prevention group that serves the northern suburbs, was even more skeptical.
“Because of the work we do I know a lot of dealers, and no, they’re not going to be bagging it up and giving it out at Halloween,” she said. “It’s just scaremongering at its best.”
* Earlier this month Danville PD posted on Facebook that parents should be aware of traffic, using sidewalks and fentanyl…
Halloween is right around the corner and our community enjoys being involved in the festivities and giving or receiving “Tricks or Treats”. The Danville Police Department wants to help keep everyone safe. Trick-or-Treating will be permitted in Danville from 5 pm – 8 pm on Monday, October 31st.
Our primary concern is pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the roadways and other risks to our children’s safety. We must also remain concerned with Covid-19 for those who are most vulnerable to it. Parents and guardians must remain vigilant again this year. The choice of allowing your children to trick or treat and responsibility will, as it should, fall on the individual parents, guardians and families. As with any contagious illness, if a parent, guardian or child is not feeling well, please consider not taking the risk. […]
Unfortunately, we always have to keep our guard up for additional risks that could jeopardize the community’s safety. There has been attention given to “rainbow colored” Fentanyl. We have not seen this variation of the deadly drug in Danville or Vermilion County but we want to warn that all candy collected by our children should be inspected by an adult prior to its consumption. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) this variation of the street version of Fentanyl has been located and seized in 18 states and the distributors are targeting the younger population. There is no indication of a threat in our area but we know that the question will be asked based on the coverage by national media. Anything suspicious should be reported to local police. Any unsealed candy should be discarded. Use your best discretion as you would for anything involving our most precious commodity, our kids.
* The AP…
Advocates warn that some of the alarms being sounded by politicians and officials are wrong and potentially dangerous. Among those ideas: that tightening control of the U.S.-Mexico border would stop the flow of the drugs, though experts say the key to reining in the crisis is reducing drug demand; that fentanyl might turn up in kids’ trick-or-treat baskets this Halloween; and that merely touching the drug briefly can be fatal — something that researchers found untrue and that advocates worry can make first responders hesitate about giving lifesaving treatment.
All three ideas were brought up this month in an online video billed as a pre-Halloween public service announcement from a dozen Republican U.S. senators.[…]
Jon DeLena, the agency’s associate special agent in charge, said at the National Crime Prevention Council summit on fentanyl in Washington this month that there’s “no direct information that Halloween is specifically being targeted or young people are being targeted for Halloween,” but that hasn’t kept that idea from spreading.
Joel Best, an emeritus sociology professor at the University of Delaware, said that idea falls in with a long line of Halloween-related scares. He has examined cases since 1958 and has not found a single instance of a child dying because of something foreign put into Halloween candy — and few instances of that being done at all.
* WICS…
The Illinois Poison Center (IPC) is giving out tips to keep your children safe on Halloween.
Officials say it is rare for Halloween candy to be poisoned but IPC manages cases each year involving dry ice, glow sticks, and more.
“It is very rare to get poisoned from Halloween candy, but parents should still check their child’s candy as a safety precaution, especially with the recent increase in the use of candy-like products that contain THC or fentanyl,” said IPC Medical Director Michael Wahl, MD. “While IPC doesn’t typically see poison incidents involving candy during this time of year, we do get calls about glow sticks, dry ice, and other potentially harmful items children eat.”
posted by Isabel Miller
Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 1:31 pm
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To paraphrase some of the social media retorts to these ridiculous scare tactics -
No one is putting drugs in Halloween candy. Drugs are expensive.
Comment by Ron Burgundy Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 1:35 pm
===“It also seems as if people are using fentanyl for political purposes.”===
By people, he means Republicans.
I plan to once again give my kids’ candy haul a thorough examination, with particular attention on Snickers and Reese’s. Can’t be too careful these days.
Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 1:37 pm
Someone should let Rep. Miller know that if you visit your local school’s sex change surgical center in the nurse’s office, you can find the Rainbow Fentanyl in the cabinet above the litter boxes.
Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 1:44 pm
Rainbow fentanyl is the 2020s version of razor blades in apples from the 70s or 80s. Good grief some people will fall for anything.
Comment by Baloneymous Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 1:45 pm
@47 - careful with the snark. People will believe you.
Comment by Cool Papa Bell Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 1:46 pm
Lies are all Republicans got these days. No policy proposals. No high ideals. Just lies.
Comment by Nick Name Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 1:52 pm
Caution is always a wise idea, but if little kids didn’t have enough to worry about, this $#&* gets started?
Burgundy is right. Bad guys want you to pay for drugs. They don’t give out free samples.
Comment by Streator Curmudgeon Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 1:55 pm
the last time I checked, drug dealers didn’t give out free samples
Comment by 62629 Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 2:02 pm
If you live in Mary Miller’s district (please accept my condolences) and your halloween candy is poisoned, there is a 99.9% chance that it is your lifelong neighbor that did it, not a drug cartel that somehow snuck into your town of 1500 undetected.
Comment by JS Mill Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 2:04 pm
I saw a story that more kids die by traffic accidents on Halloween more than any other day of the year. Instead of worrying about a problem that doesn’t exist (fentanyl in candy), let’s try to resolve one that does exist and please drive very carefully out there tonight.
Comment by Steve Rogers Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 2:10 pm
The same idiots who believe in the “furries” nonsense will believe in this too. It amazes me how stupid some people are.
Comment by Demoralized Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 2:11 pm
What you really need to watch out for is razor blades inside fentanyl-infused apples.
Comment by fs Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 2:20 pm
–The same idiots–
The Will County coroners office put out a serious story on this back in September. It was embarrassing.
Absolutely zero critical thinking skills.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 2:27 pm
–2020s version–
It’s easy to forget, but for the past few years since cannabis has been legalized in this state, people were claiming ‘cannabis edibles’ were being given to kids on Halloween.
I guess too many people were laughing at that instead of being scared, so it’s been upped this year to opioids.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 2:31 pm
I already told my kids that they’re hiding fentanyl in Snickers bars so give those directly to me.
Comment by Original Rambler Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 2:38 pm
=people were claiming ‘cannabis edibles’ were being given to kids on Halloween.=
Obviously people making this claim have no idea what the cost of edibles are and that you would never waste that kind of money on the neighborhood kid.
Comment by Pundent Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 2:43 pm
===Someone should let Rep. Miller know that if you visit your local school’s sex change surgical center in the nurse’s office, you can find the Rainbow Fentanyl in the cabinet above the litter boxes.
You forgot the CRT center for hating white folks.
Comment by ArchPundit Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 3:51 pm
The St.Anne police dept. posted pictures of what looked like bags of candy but were canabis edibles really- someone is going to hand out bags of their expensive edibles to trick or treaters? Give me a break
Comment by iroquoiscountydem Monday, Oct 31, 22 @ 3:57 pm