Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said this Halloween could be the “scariest” in her lifetime due to efforts by Mexican cartels to spread the deadly opioid fentanyl.
“This could be the scariest Halloween in my lifetime,” she said at a Tuesday press conference at the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. “I have no doubt that the cartels are trying to purposefully target children at a younger and younger age to get them addicted, which will ensure consistent profits.”
Moody warned the drug comes in rainbow colors and that cartels are sneaking it into the U.S. in candy packaging.
Authorities across the country have seized millions of dollars of the bright-colored fentanyl, some of which has been in toy and candy boxes.
FLORIDA AG MOODY WARNS PARENTS OF ‘VERY REAL’ THREAT OF RAINBOW FENTANYL THAT RESEMBLES CANDY
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody speaks during a roundtable discussion at the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora in Miami’s Coral Way neighborhood on Monday, Feb. 7, 2022.
((Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images))
“Rainbow fentanyl — fentanyl pills and powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes and sizes — is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults,” Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram warned in August.
While fentanyl wrapped in candy bags has not been found in Florida, Moody said the potential is there.
She acknowledged that the likelihood is low for fentanyl to end up in trick-or-treat baskets, but noted reports of drugs in Halloween candy in other states.
12,000 FENTANYL PILLS FOUND PACKAGES IN CANDY AT LAX TSA CHECKPOINT
“Just one pill laced with fentanyl can kill, so parents please talk to your children about the dangers posed by this extremely lethal drug,” she said in a statement.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of the estimated 107,622 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. last year, deaths from synthetic opioids has continued to increase.
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Data show overdose deaths involving opioids increased to 80,816 in 2021 from an estimated 70,029 in 2020.
The DEA launched the nation’s largest drug prevention efforts on Oct. 23.
