According to a join public awareness announcement from the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office and Cortez Police Department, three types of counterfeit Oxy 30 fentanyl pills have been identified in Southwest Colorado.
The first is a common counterfeit known as “Rainbow” and/or “Skittles” because of its candy-like appearance. The fentanyl pills are seen in various colors, such as pink, purple, green, yellow and orange.
The second Oxy 30 fentanyl pill is a rarer form known as the tie-dye pill. While these pills come in bright and vibrant colors like the first type, they are various arrays of colors within themselves rather than being a solid color.
According to the awareness announcement, the third is suspected to be a new strand or trend of these deadly pills, and are a triangular with the well-known Tesla logo stamped on them.
In addition to these pills, the Sheriff’s Office and police department have gathered and reported seven other various blue and green counterfeit fentanyl pills.
“The Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office and the Cortez Police Department, remain vigilant and active to prevent this poison from entering and/or harming our community,” the announcement said.
Any information involving the sale and distribution of illegal narcotics can be provided anonymously by calling the tip line at (970) 565-4243. All calls are guaranteed to remain confidential and anonymous.
Sheriff Steve Nowlin said arrests have increased greatly, and they are trying to bring federal charges upon multiple major traffickers in Montezuma County who have been arrested for possession and distribution.
They are working on an investigation as well.
“And there are other big cases that are coming to that'll be rather interesting,” Sheriff Nowlin said. “As soon as I can, I’ll tell you all about that.”
Toward the end of 2022, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Silt, made efforts to designate Montezuma County as a High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and led efforts to combat fentanyl and other drug trafficking in the county.
“The crisis at the border has caused an explosion in deaths from the fentanyl epidemic, and it is ravaging rural Colorado,” Boebert said. “I am working to clean up this mess by standing with local law enforcement as they deal with the unprecedented jump in crime and drug trafficking. I visited the Montezuma-Cortez Drug Task Force and saw their amazing work firsthand. They are the best of the best, and they are deserving of additional federal resources through the HIDTA program. These additional resources will help the brave men and women of law enforcement in Montezuma County defend their community and save lives.”
Sheriff Nowlin also weighed in on HIDTA.
“Securing a HIDTA designation for Montezuma County is something we’ve been trying to do now for eight years. It is definitely needed since the Four Corners region is a drug pipeline for the cartels along the Mexican border,” he said. “I would certainly appreciate any help from the U.S. Congress to get this done and secure more assistance for our work to combat the flow of deadly drugs into our community.”
