Sedgwick County sheriff: Fentanyl ‘not likely’ to appear in Halloween candy

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - An announcement from the Wichita Police Department sheds light on the prevalence of potentially-deadly fentanyl in the community. Thursday, the WPD reported seizing up to a million pills.

With this report come questions about how much more could be out there and a concern from some parents, wondering if fentanyl pills could be mixed with their children’s Halloween candy.

Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter said colorful round pills known as rainbow fentanyl, have been seized in the community. His main message this Halloween is for parents to remain diligent when going through their children’s candy, as they should any year. But, he said it’s not likely the dangerous drug will be in the candy mix.

“Not to say that it can’t happen, but you just have to be a little more diligent when your kids come home to go through their candy,” Easter said. “’Cause it’s not just fentanyl. There’s other things somebody that’s evil could try to put (in Halloween buckets).

A group of Senate Republicans issued a public service announcement, warning parents about the dangers of rainbow fentanyl ahead of Halloween, but Easer said fentanyl in bowls of candy isn’t what he’s seeing locally.

“We have no intelligence or anything else that leads us to believe that someone is going to try to put fentanyl into candy or put fentanyl into baggies,” he said.

Instead, law enforcement agencies across Kansas, including Wichita, Newton and Sedgwick County, say they continue to raise awareness of the dangers of drugs on the streets that are laced with fentanyl.

“All of the Percocet that’s out there is all fake, it’s all fentanyl, and we’re starting to see a little bit more of the Adderall,” Easter said. “You shouldn’t take that Adderall from anybody ‘cause you don’t know where they got it from.”

This Halloween, the sheriff shares the following message with parents:

“This is a different age we live in right now compared to maybe when [parents] grew up. So, you have to be a little bit more cautious, have a lot more oversight of your child because of everything that we have going on.”

Easer advises parents that if a child gets a bag of candies they don’t recognize, throw it away. And if you see rainbow fentanyl (often resembling Flintstones vitamins), call police to report it.