A North Sound tribal reservation is on high alert after the discovery of those so-called “rainbow fentanyl” pills.
The police chief believes they could be especially dangerous for children.
The Tulalip Tribal Police Department made the concerning discovery last week. A suspect was arrested on the reservation with dozens of brightly colored pills laced with fentanyl.
Police Chief Chris Sutter immediately sounded the alarm. This kind of alert is unusual for this police department.
The finding alarmed the chief so much, that he did an interview on his day off, he says, to help save lives.
“And what’s alarming to me, personally, is I believe this is a marketing technique for the drug trafficking organizations to try to market to younger users, youth, children,” Chief Sutter said. “And the real concern is if a child found one of these pills, it would be deadly.”
Chief Sutter says they just learned the ‘rainbow fentanyl’ had arrived on the Tulalip reservation. Last week, a member of the department’s drug task force stopped someone in the parking lot of the Tulalip Casino Resort. In his possession were dozens of the candy-colored fentanyl pills, deadlier than most everything else on the street.
“It’s 50 to 100 times more potent and deadly than heroin,” he said.
Fentanyl has already had a devastating effect on the tribe. Chief Sutter says that since 2017, some 60 tribal members have died after overdosing on the powerful drug. And it’s not just in this tribe.
