The federal government has warned about rainbow fentanyl in Oregon. Rainbow fentanyl is a version of the highly-toxic and often fatal synthetic opioid that can look like sidewalk chalk or candy. Fentanyl is commonly disguised in fake prescription pills. The fakes are indistinguishable from real pills.
The Portland Medium has reported before about bars offering fentanyl testing strips and naloxone for harm reduction. Portland’s Star Bar has operated in the city since it opened 12 years ago. Owner said he has seen the way drug use has changed in the city and wanted to do what he could to address it.
Tribal leaders have also sounded the alarm. This came after fentanyl overdoses spiked at Blackfeet Nation. After 17 overdoses — including four deaths — this spring, Indigenous leaders in Montana and surrounding states were looking for ways to stop the fentanyl crisis and provide more treatment and care.
In Oregon, at least two notable seizures of a brightly-colored version of fentanyl this week in the Portland area have prompted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to warn people to be on the lookout for it.
Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate there were over 107,000 fatal drug overdoses in the U.S. in 2021, an increase of nearly 15% from the previous year, federal officials said. Synthetic opioids — primarily fentanyl — accounted for more than three-quarters of those deaths.
Oregon fentanyl-driven overdoses jump, officials urge naloxone. An Oregon Health Authority analysis has found that drug overdose deaths in Oregon more than doubled between 2019 and 2021, driven largely by misuse of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl.
Rainbow fentanyl has appeared recently in several forms in cities across the country. Anyone who encounters it or any version of fentanyl is urged to refrain from handling it and call 911 immediately.
