In Kyle, Texas, a small city just 4 hours away from Frisco, 17-year-old Kevin McConville was found dead in his room after overdosing on fentanyl. This wasn’t only one occurrence. Three other Texas students in the past month have died from unknowingly consuming the lethal substance.

In mid-August, deputies in Portland executed a search warrant on a house where they found guns, cash, armor, and large amounts of drugs. These drugs were classified as “rainbow fentanyl,” which is a self-explanatory term for colored fentanyl.

The investigation raised alarm, especially because of fentanyl’s ability to be disguised as colorful chalk and even some types of candy.

A report on October 10th, 2022, regarding the search warrant suggests, “Rainbow fentanyl — fentanyl pills and powder that comes in a variety of bright colors, shapes, and sizes — is a deliberate effort by drug traffickers to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults”.

Along with its colorful, addictive forms, fentanyl is extremely dangerous. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells us that synthetic opioids are up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, and are widely considered significant contributors to fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the U.S with just 2 milligrams being enough to kill an adult.

Paired with this alarming information and extensive media coverage, the “rainbow fentanyl” scare fueled fear and caution all over the nation right before the Halloween season.

“I was terrified when I first saw the news about it,” freshman Julianne Loesin said. “It made me really worried about going trick or treating this year.” 

Her parents were equally as worried and considered buying their own candy instead of going trick or treating.

Luckily, this story turned out to be another scary Halloween rumor, but the rising dangers of fentanyl and its accessibility to high school students across our country isn’t.

More than 100,000 Americans have died from drug overdoses between May 2020 and April 2021—the most ever recorded in a single year—and it’s only rising according to the CDC. The large increase in deaths is a direct result of illegal pills having more fentanyl added to them with the intent to make them more addictive. Unfortunately, this deadly concoction isn’t safe for anyone, and, instances of it are surprisingly common.

With the rise of social media high school students are able to buy bags of synthetic opioids and have them delivered to their houses. Often times these “opioids” are instead counterfeit copies of Percocet, Adderall, and Xanax, that are mixed with cocaine, heroin, and the even more lethal – fentanyl.

Samuel Chapman, a 16-year-old high schooler from Santa Monica, California, died from a fentanyl overdose after a drug dealer contacted him through Snapchat and gave him fentanyl-laced Xanax pills (a common anxiety-relieving medication).

Tiffany Iler, a student at Ohio State University, is another victim who unknowingly consumed these disguised pills. She mistakenly took a bag of fake Adderall pills that were laced with Fentanyl. She died the next hour.

It’s now more important than ever that students are taught about the dangers of opioids and drugs. Even experimenting with them in small amounts is extremely dangerous because there’s a high likelihood of fentanyl or another deadly substance in them. Students across our country have to be protected, and it’s the policymakers, high schools, and parents’ obligation to create and support drug-avoidance programs that teach students how to address, avoid, and report dangerous situations. 

In the meantime, stay safe, be responsible, and most of all – don’t do drugs kids.