Montana Attorney General Warns About Fentanyl Disguised as Candy

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - With Halloween approaching, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is asking parents to be watchful about what their children bring home when they trick or treat this Halloween.

Knudsen said he does not want to alarm parents, but some of the fentanyl tablets coming into Montana have been packaged to look like harmless candy.

“That's something we definitely want parents to be aware of,” began Knudsen. “Talk to your kids. You know, it's the same adage that we learned when we were kids. If it's not in the original wrapper for candy, don't eat it. We’ve got to follow the same thing here. What we are seeing with Fentanyl is that the drug cartels are starting to add coloring to it. They're starting to add sweeteners to it, and this is a marketing technique that they're using. They're making it look like candy.”

Knudsen again encouraged parents to be especially aware, not to scare their children, but simply to watch carefully what they bring home on Halloween.

Knudsen said 'I don't know how real this Halloween candy thing is, but we need to be aware'.

“Talk to your kids about it,” he said. “We're seeing some of these fentanyl shipments show up in Montana and they're looking like Smarties. They're looking like Sweet Tarts. If someone dropped a bag of this stuff out in a playground, we'd be really worried and we could have a disaster because I think kids might grab it thinking its candy. I don't know how real this Halloween candy thing is, but I think it's certainly something that we need to be aware of in Montana.”

Knudsen Looks Back at a Tragedy in Butte

Knudsen referenced a tragic situation that occurred recently with teenagers in Butte who were exposed to drugs.

“What we're starting to see is that the cartels are tainting other medications and they're tainting other drugs,” he said. “Just here about a month and a half ago we had some teenage boys in Butte overdose. All five of them overdosed and one of them, unfortunately, passed away because they thought they were using one recreational drug and it ended up it that was tainted with fentanyl. This is very dangerous for our children, and it just makes education all the more important.”

The Attorney General just asks Parents to be Watchful

Again, Knudsen is simply asking parents to be watchful this Halloween.

“We are interdicting these color candy-looking shipments of fentanyl coming into Montana,” he said. “So absolutely talk to your children. Keep an eye on what's coming home in the candy baskets. If you see something that doesn't look right, call 911. Get the cops over there now. We'd rather you call and it'd be nothing than we have a tragedy.”

Attorney General Knudsen has been asking federal authorities to control the southern border primarily due to the shipments of methamphetamine and fentanyl making their way into Montana.