COLUMBUS – The state’s top law enforcement official says “rainbow fentanyl” has come to Ohio.
The Bureau of Criminal Investigation, in the office of Attorney General Dave Yost has identified over 1,000 pills recently seized by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office as part of a Columbus-area drug-trafficking investigation as the colorful pills designed to resemble candy that drug traffickers are using to drive addiction among young people, Yost said.
The bureau’s Drug Chemistry Laboratory has previously identified fentanyl in multiple forms, including colored powders, and in combination with other drugs, in drugs seized during investigations, but Yost says the 1,025 pills seized in Franklin County were the first instances of rainbow fentanyl, which has shown up in many states and which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has warned is a deliberate effort by traffickers to mask deadly fentanyl in a form attractive to young Americans.
“Do not be fooled by appearances – rainbow fentanyl is death disguised as candy,” Yost said.
“The sad reality is drug traffickers continue to stoop to all-time lows, marketing their deadly products to Americans of all ages for the sole purpose of monetizing addiction,” said Chief Deputy Rick Minerd of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.
Yost says BCI’s lab identified fentanyl in in more than 9,000 drug samples submitted for analysis in 2022 and has processed 2,306 items containing fentanyl so far this year.