At least two police departments in Maine have recovered candy colored fentanyl and methamphetamine, part of a national trend of making the deadly drugs more appealing to a younger generation of users.
Police in Bangor and Farmington reported the seizures to Maine’s Information and Analysis Center, an intelligence gathering service that shares information between the state and federal government, Maine Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Shannon Moss confirmed in an email.
Farmington Chief Ken Charles said the drugs were turned in to police by a family member of someone who was seeking treatment. No charges were filed and police believe the drugs were methamphetamine. In addition to different colors, they were shaped like dominoes and a Rolls Royce hood ornament. Charles said they resembled chewable vitamins for children.
“If they were mixed in to a bottle, you would think they were Flintstones chewables,” he said. “It’s a very unsafe situation.”
Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, has been linked to about 75% of the drug overdose deaths reported in the first six months of this year, according to the Maine Office of the Attorney General. In the first five months of this year, 266 Mainers died of a drug overdose, an increase of 9% over the same period in 2021.