Rainbow fentanyl: the new variety of drug stopped on the border between Mexico and the US

Rainbow fentanyl pills seized in Nogales, Arizona, on August 17.@CBPPortDirNOG (RR. SS.)

Fentanyl seizures have reached record levels in the United States.

The US border patrol (CBP) has announced that it has seized more than 950 kilos during July, three times more than what was seized in June and a jump of more than 200% compared to a month before.

The vast majority of the drug is produced in clandestine laboratories or smuggled from Mexico, which are controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Generation Cartel, the two most powerful criminal organizations in the country.

There is, however, one variety that is of particular concern to US authorities. They call it rainbow fentanyl, it is sold as colored pills and has turned up by the tens of thousands in two recent raids along the Sonora-Arizona border.

"Its appearance is similar to that of a candy," said Michael Humphries, CBP manager in Nogales, Arizona, after an operation on August 17.

That time more than 250,000 pills were seized, some of them, in that presentation that were inside a vehicle that crossed the border.

Also in the car were five kilos of heroin and a slightly smaller amount of methamphetamine.

Just a day later, another shipment of those pills was found.

One person had stuck more than 15,000 colored pills to his legs and was discovered at the same border port.

"This may be the start of a trend among transnational criminal organizations," Humphries warned.

The concern of the authorities is the market to which they suppose that the candy-shaped tablets are directed: the youngest users.

Rainbow fentanyl seizures have not only come to light in Arizona.

They have also been found in recent days in operations in California, Washington and Oregon.

"Officers are particularly concerned that this type of fentanyl finds its way into the hands of children or young adults, who may mistake this drug for something more like candy or a toy," the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office said, after finding 800 pills of this variety in a house in Portland, the most populous city in Oregon.

Also on the property were four grams of fentanyl powder, also multicolored.

The authorities suspect an almost marketing tactic: a more colorful presentation also makes it more attractive to those who have not tried it.

In the capital of the country,

Rainbow fentanyl pills seized in Nogales, Arizona, on August 18.@CBPPortDirNOG (RR. SS.)

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.

Taking a very small dose can be fatal.

Health authorities estimate that two milligrams is enough to be lethal, although the effect of the dose depends on the complexion of the person who takes it.

Under that rule of thumb, the DEA, for example, estimates that one kilo has the potential to kill half a million people.

The use of fentanyl has skyrocketed in recent decades in the United States after the indiscriminate administration of legal prescription painkillers.

The opioid crisis left more than 100,000 overdose deaths in the United States between April 2020 and the same month last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Since many people were hooked on particular drugs, the strategy of the Mexican cartels was to imitate those pills.

These “pirate” versions increase the risks because the concentration of synthetic opioids is usually higher than that of the originals.

The figure seized of 950 kilos of fentanyl in July also represents an increase of 150% compared to the same month of 2021. In all of 2019, the authorities were only able to stop just over 1,440 kilos.

The doses are so small and powerful that they are often easy to hide and transport.

In addition to the new presentations, the authorities have targeted the modes of transport.

Humphries announced this Monday the seizure in Nogales of more than 1.5 million fentanyl pills hidden in the box and on the floor of a truck.

More than 50 kilos of cocaine and six kilos of heroin were also found in the vehicle.

As in the case of the tragedy of the 53 migrants who died inside an abandoned trailer in San Antonio, criminal organizations are using transport networks with US citizens and vehicles to evade security controls.

China remains the main source of fentanyl trafficked in the US, although Mexican cartels, especially Jalisco Nueva Generación, have reinforced their commitment to the trade in synthetic drugs.

In Mexico there is a growing trend of consumption, especially in the north of the country and mixed with "traditional" drugs such as heroin or cocaine.

“Fentanyl is being sold everywhere.

Mexico is already a producer and a consumer,” said Silvia Cruz Martín del Campo, doctor in Pharmacobiology and researcher at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the Polytechnic Institute of Mexico, in an interview with this newspaper last March.

South of the border, however, official data is scarce.

"Fentanyl is everywhere, from large metropolitan areas to rural areas of the country, no community is safe from this poison," Anne Milgram, the director of the DEA, said last Friday.

"This is the deadliest drug our country has ever faced," added the official.

In the last 10 months, US authorities have seized around 4,800 kilos of fentanyl, according to CBP figures.

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