The Real Reason for Colorful Fentanyl

The DEA says colored fentnayl is part of a cynical cartel ploy to entice young customers. Workers in Sinaloa say the colors are for the "opposite reason."

Back in August, the head of the DEA Anne Milgram said that rainbow fentanyl “is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults.” That press release kicked of thousands of inane articles warning parents that their children are being targeted by drug cartels pressing fentanyl into pills made to look like Skittles.

The GOP, in the run-up to the midterms, reverted back to 1990s era drug war rhetoric, peddling a mix of stranger danger, tainted Halloween candy, and blaming fentanyl overdoses on President Biden’s so-called “open borders.”

I’ve sent multiple inquiries to the DEA asking them to share their evidence or elaborate on their rationale for suggesting colored fentanyl is a part of a plot to lure children as new customers. The DEA has yet to respond.

“The DEA is saying this is being driven by cartels who want to attract the youth without any evidence that suggests this is the case,” drug policy researcher Bryce Pardo told me back in September. “I really don’t think Mexican drug trafficking organizations are trying to figure out how to confuse 10 year olds. It doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me.” Pardo added, “There are probably other reasons why they’re mixing colors—potentially to brand, potentially to show different potencies.”

There are other reasons, indeed. And they’re not part of some sinister plan like the DEA wants you to think.