Following 15,000 pills disguised as sweets were discovered in Connecticut, former DEA special operations director Derek Maltz advised parents to learn more about the national fentanyl crisis.
With Halloween just weeks away, the DEA is warning parents that deadly rainbow-colored pills may be marketed to children. The recent seizure in Connecticut found the drugs stashed in Skittles and Nerds packaging.
“We’re seeing an unprecedented amount of kids dying as young as 13 years old,” Maltz stated on “Fox & Friends”.
“And we know now, the DEA says, that 40% of the pills contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl.”
Maltz explained to host Ainsley Earhardt that cartels have been targeting teen’s obsessions with the internet by selling drugs on social media. The children being affected by these sales, Maltz noted, are not old enough to know any better.
Parents should look for educational materials from the DEA and other non-profits to learn what to beware of as Halloween approaches, according to Maltz.
“They have to be proactive,” he stated.
“It’s deadly fentanyl, and it’s flooding our streets like we’ve never seen.”
If parents are worried that their child’s Halloween candy may have been tampered with, Maltz suggests they open the packaging and contact police if drugs are found. He noted that the material needs to be disposed of immediately.
“Stay away from it because it’s poison. It really is dangerous,” he stated.
Maltz stated that schools play a crucial role in the prevention of crises such as this, and he urged the Biden administration to take swift action.
Synthetic opioid deaths in the United States rose from 6,000 in 2015 to more than 63,000 in 2021, with fentanyl being a key cause. Due to fentanyl deaths, some counties are said to be running out of room in morgues.
“This is not a drug issue, it’s a mass poisoning,” he stated.
“We’re losing a future generation – 300 a day.”
