DeSantis Is Preparing for One of the Strongest Storms in History. He Has...
FEMA Better Not Ask for More Money After This Revelation
Feminist Law Professor Will Vote Republican After Experiencing the Ultimate Betrayal by De...
What the Pro-Hamas Crowd Doesn't Get and Never Will
Don't Nuke the Senate Filibuster!
Vote Buying, Biden Style
Tampa Mayor Has a Very Stark Warning to Residents in Evacuation Zone
How Trump Wants to Be Remembered 100 Years From Now
Americans Have Become Second Class Citizens Under the Biden-Harris Administration
Kamala’s Capital Gains Tax Surprise
It's All Too Much for Me to Take
Javier Milei: Bookworm and Genius of Self-Marketing
Hostages, Failures, and a Political Reckoning
Reflections on Israeli Gun Control: Lessons for America on the Eve of the...
Biden Claims Border Crossings Are Down, but He’s Just Flying Them in Now
Tipsheet

Treasury Department Sanctions Mexican Cartel Over Rainbow Fentanyl

Twitter/Port Director Michael W. Humphries

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Thursday that it has sanctioned a Mexican drug cartel it says is behind the spike in “rainbow” fentanyl targeted at children. 

Advertisement

La Nueva Familia Michoacana and its co-leaders Johnny Hurtado Olascoaga (Johnny Hurtado) and Jose Alfredo Hurtado Olascoaga (Jose Hurtado) smuggle illicit drugs, including rainbow fentanyl, which “appears in the form of pills/powder that come in a variety of bright colors, shapes and sizes and it made to attract children and young users,” the Treasury Department said in a press release.

The cartel has “demonstrated a willingness” to attack government officials as well as hire and train assassins, the press release noted. The cartel’s two co-founders are two of the most wanted criminals in Mexico. Johnny Hurtado remains a fugitive on charges related to the attempted possession of and conspiracy to distribute cocaine from a federal grand jury in Florida in the year 2000. 

“Today’s action targets the leadership of one of the most violent and depraved drug cartels,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in a statement. “Not only does this cartel traffic fentanyl, which claimed the lives of more than 71,000 Americans last year, it now markets ‘rainbow fentanyl’ as part of a deliberate effort to drive addiction amongst kids and young adults.”

The sanctions are part of a “whole-of-government effort to counter the global threat posed by the trafficking of illicit drugs into the United States that causes the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans annually,” the press release added.

Last week, Townhall reported how a man in New York who was caught with 20,000 fentanyl pills was released. 

Advertisement

Last month, police officers in Oregon seized 18 pounds of fentanyl, enough to reportedly kill four million people, in a car when they found the driver passed out on the side of the road, which Townhall also covered.

Before the incident in Oregon, federal agents and New York City police officers arrested a New Jersey woman after discovering fentanyl packaged like candy and stored in LEGO boxes in her vehicle. The car allegedly contained 15,000 “rainbow” pills, according to WPVI

In September, a middle school student in California was arrested after bringing fentanyl pills to school and causing a campus supervisor to overdose. According to the Bakersfield Police Department, the Chipman Junior High student had about 150 fentanyl pills disguised as Percocet. Police who showed up at the scene administered Narcan to the school staffer, who was then transported to a hospital.

Recently, officials in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) announced that it would make Narcan available at all its campuses following a “devastating epidemic” of drug overdoses, some believed to be related to fentanyl, according Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. The school district also unveiled a task force to work with school police officers and local law enforcement to heighten supervision in areas, such as parks, where students are believed to be obtaining drugs.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement