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.
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.
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.