A group of Senate Republicans led by Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall will release a video Thursday warning parents across the country about the dangers of rainbow fentanyl, which the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) warns looks like candy or sidewalk chalk.
In the public service announcement (PSA) video, first obtained by the Daily Caller, Marshall and 12 other Republican senators warn parents to be on the lookout for the rainbow fentanyl as Halloween approaches. As of Aug. 2022, the DEA and other law enforcement agencies have seized brightly-colored fentanyl and fentanyl pills in 18 states and have released warnings about “rainbow fentanyl.”
The DEA said drug cartels appear to be trying to sell fentanyl made to look like candy to children and young people.
The other Republican senators in the video include Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer, Montana Sen. Steve Daines, Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, Florida Sen. Rick Scott, Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, Idaho Sen. James Risch and Texas Sen. John Cornyn.
“I come to you today not only as a U.S. senator but as a fellow American concerned about the health of our nation’s youth this Halloween,” Marshall says in the video
“The powerful drug cartels are coming after your kids, your neighbors, your students, your family members, and your friends. No one is sparred as fake pills laced with fentanyl are beginning to look like candy in an effort to lure young Americans,” Blackburn continues.
Cassidy notes that “[r]ainbow fentanyl comes in a variety of bright colors, shapes and sizes, including pills, powder and blocks that resemble sidewalk chalk.”
“According to the DEA, these pills are a ‘deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults.’ Even just handling these pills or powders masquerading as candy can kill a person,” Daines adds.
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“Because of Joe Biden’s open border policies, illicit fentanyl is wreaking havoc in communities throughout the U.S. and killing Americans at record rates. As such, every state is now a border state with more than 150 Americans dying each day from fentanyl poisoning,” Marshall told the Caller before releasing the video. (RELATED: Jimmy Kimmel Mocks Dangers Of Fentanyl While Trying To Own Republicans)
“While this Administration continues to turn a blind eye to the crisis, we will continue to bring awareness and solutions — particularly ahead of this Halloween, given the drug cartels have begun targeting young kids with rainbow fentanyl that looks identical to candy and sidewalk chalk,” he added. (RELATED: CHANG: ‘Rainbow Fentanyl’ Is Designed To Addict And Kill America’s Youth. Here’s How The US Can Stop It)
Marshall and Scott introduced legislation in late September designating four Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Senate GOPers Will Propose Labeling Drug Cartels ‘Foreign Terrorist Organizations’)
The Drug Cartel Terrorist Designation Act, obtained exclusively by the Caller, would subject the Gulf Cartel’s Reynosa/Los Metros faction, the Los Zetas Cartel’s Del Noreste faction, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel to sanctions under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The designation would prohibit people in the U.S. from offering “material support or resources” to the cartels, and empower the federal government to seize the cartels’ assets.
The bill also would allow the secretary of state to sanction other cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. The State Department currently lists 68 groups as foreign terrorist organizations, but none of those are drug cartels.