don't take fentanyl from strangers

In the past two weeks, The Grand Junction Police department has recovered about 60,000 rainbow fentanyl pills. Fentanyl which is a powerful synthetic opioid is similar to morphine but about 50 to 100 times more potent. Fentanyl is now one of the leading drugs causing overdoses in the U.S. The multi-colored pills (called “blues” or “rainbows”) have recently been found in the Grand Valley and are one of the first confirmed batches discovered in Colorado.

Authorities say that it is being marketed by drug cartels to entice young people to this highly addictive and deadly drug. They’re advertising it to teens and even children to start getting them addicted from a young age. Doing this makes the cartel and seller earn more money because they have more time with the client since they’re so young. Just recently a 13 year old boy in Aurora, Jose Hernandez, died from an overdose after consuming rainbow fentanyl.

I talked to Rob Seger, the School Resource Officer here at Palisade. “Fentanyl is an issue we’ve been having, it’s an epidemic. Opioids in general, but specifically fentanyl is becoming more and more prevalent, and we’re seeing more and more people have bad reactions to it and overdoses everywhere in the community. From schools to homes it happens everywhere.” When asking how to keep kids safe he says, “The best thing you can do is that you make sure you never take a pill that doesn’t come from a trusted parent or school nurse.”

The Grand Junction Police Department and Western Colorado Drug Task Force are advising the community of these candy-like drugs. There have been 12 confirmed deaths related to fentanyl in 2022 so far and sadly might rise as “rainbows” are being introduced to Grand Junction.