Law enforcement warns of colorful drug fentanyl
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Halloween is coming up and while children look forward to the innocent fun of trick-or-treating, law enforcement is warning that deadly fentanyl is turning up in a deceptively colorful form.
The brightly colored pills resemble candy, and parents should be on the lookout for them.
"We have not had any laced candy or anything like that, any fentanyl disguised as candy," said Martins Ferry Police Chief John McFarland, who heads the drug division of the Belmont County Major Crimes Unit.
However, he said it is only a matter of time before fentanyl in a candy coating turns up in the local area. The presence of major highways makes it a certainty that new illegal drugs will find their way here.
"We're stuck between Wheeling and Steubenville and Pittsburgh," McFarland said. "If it's out there, I guarantee it'll be here. I know we're not Cleveland or Columbus or one of the bigger cities, but if you go back 10, 12 years ago heroin was everywhere else except for here in Belmont County, then one day it showed up and it hasn't left.
"You've got to be careful with absolutely everything that you do, anything you touch. You've just got to be careful. You don't know where it's at or what it is," McFarland continued. "We had a drug bust a couple weeks ago, and the people inside the house were smoking fentanyl. It's bad enough as it is by itself."
St. Clairsville Police Chief Matt Arbenz and Detective Randy Stewart with the Belmont County Sheriff's Office said they have not seen rainbow fentanyl in the area yet.
Stewart and McFarland said it is unlikely that people with the drugs will deliberately give them to children. McFarland said their appearance is likely an effort at disguising the drug when in plain sight so that law enforcement may overlook it. However, mistakes can happen and children may be attracted to the appearance of candy.
"People don't want to let go of their dope, so users are going to keep it and use it or make money from it," Stewart said. "Parents need to use caution, as always, when they're out collecting candy and celebrating Halloween."
McFarland added that K-9 officers are trained to detect fentanyl in all forms, and detectives are on alert.
"They try all kinds of different things. Anytime that we believe there might be anything with any type of drug substance in it, we take it as evidence and ship it off to (the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation) and let them analyze it," he said. "We've come across a lot of crazy different things."
McFarland reminds parents to exercise extra caution during Halloween festivities.
"Only go to houses that you're familiar with. Stay in your neighborhood with people that you know," he said. "Don't dare go to a (strange) neighborhood or take candy off of people that you don't trust. That would be the biggest fear. Having people go somewhere they're not familiar with and maybe get themselves something they shouldn't have. ... It's a scary world we live in."