Law enforcement warning community of rainbow fentanyl ahead of Halloween

MIDLAND, Texas (KOSA) - The Ector County Sheriff’s Office is warning the community of the growing fentanyl crisis, especially ahead of Halloween.

Rainbow fentanyl is being widely distributed and closely resembles candy, raising concern for children as halloween approaches.

“This rainbow fentanyl is just putting a new twist on everything and god help us if one of our children gets a hold of something like that,” said Sheriff Mike Griffis.

Rainbow fentanyl closely resembles colorful pieces of candy and the deadly drug is being distributed amongst a younger crowd raising concerns for parents and children as Halloween approaches.

Sheriff Griffis says fentanyl is coming across the border everyday and that this is the most dangerous time we’ve been in in terms of narcotics in our country.

“We have had some overdoses, we’ve had young people that have gone to bed at night, parents saw them go to bed whatever and they don’t wake up the next day and come to find out it was a fentanyl overdose,” said Sheriff Griffis.

Sheriff Griffis suggests on Halloween parents only go with their children to homes that they trust to trick or treat and inspect their children’s candy bags with gloves, as you can’t be too sure.

“It’s super dangerous and the kids, the moms and dads parents of these children need to be extremely aware, concerned and make sure they know what their kids are getting when they go trick or treating,” said Sheriff Griffis.

The Ector County Sheriff’s office no longer field tests any drugs on the side of the road because of how dangerous the drug is.

Sheriff Griffis says he believes a solution to the prevalence of the drug in our country would be harsher sentencing and building a wall across the border to stem the flow of drugs coming in.

“I know the majority of the people coming across here are wanting a better life for themselves and that’s great but we need to check them out,” said Griffis.

“It’s just like locking your door at night. We want to know who’s coming in that door so they need to knock on it before they come in.”

Sheriff Griffis says if you do come into contact with a substance that you believe to be fentanyl, reach out to the Sheriff’s Office or OPD and they can come check it out.

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