Fear and panic stoked over fentanyl-laced Halloween candy, as US midterms approach
In the lead-up to Halloween, rumors are running wild that trick-or-treaters and their parents need to keep an eye out for fentanyl-laced candy. Fentanyl is pain medication used as a recreational drug and is the cause of tens of thousands of overdose deaths each year. In 2020, over 56,000 people died from synthetic opioid overdoses, primarily fentanyl, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
“Watch your kids’ candy this year. The new thing is rainbow fentanyl. Looks like sweet tarts,” one viral tweet runs. News coverage of 15,000 multihued fentanyl pills, hidden in a Lego box, seized in New York City last week exacerbated the panic. “This is every parent’s worst nightmare,” a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent told reporters.
But toxicologists and disinformation experts are calling out the agency for “fear mongering” and inciting moral panic over drugs as the midterms loom. It started when the DEA put out a notice, warning families about a “trend” of rainbow-colored fentanyl pills that looked like candy. The colorful pills, claimed the DEA, were “a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction among kids and young adults.”
Suddenly schools, health authorities, and media outlets were all filled with warnings about how drug cartels were targeting children at Halloween.