STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
In this country, people are preparing for what is supposed to be a happy time. Halloween is coming, which you can tell by asking my kids or seeing the 9-foot skeleton on the street not far from my house. The Drug Enforcement Administration, though, is issuing a warning at this time, a warning that drug dealers are marketing fentanyl pills that look like candy. This warning has gone viral on social media, but some drug policy experts doubt it. Here's NPR addiction correspondent Brian Mann.
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: The Drug Enforcement Administration has been issuing terrifying alerts for weeks that bright-colored fentanyl pills have been spotted in a growing number of states. The DEA says they've identified a deliberate new marketing scheme by Mexican cartels and street dealers who want the pills to, quote, "look like candy to children and young people." Here's the DEA's top official, Anne Milgram, speaking to NBC News.
