Meth and fentanyl is being brought into Montana by the Mexican drug cartels. Those drugs are fueling violence, addiction, and a demand on family and social services programs all across the state. We're also seeing a big spike in pill use by kids.

I've been told by law enforcement that high school kids are throwing what they call "Skittles" parties- they throw a bunch of random, potentially unknown pills into a bowl, and then the kids take a challenge to consume one of the pills.

Stacy Zinn, who heads up the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Montana, joined us earlier in the week to talk about the danger:

Stacy Zinn:  What they do is they they pour these pills into a bowl, mix them up, and they sit around the circle, one person will sit there with a camera and filming them, they're there to take a pilll, and these people will sit there and watch the reaction,w hat type of reaction these kids have.

She describes it as "Russian Roulette" since you don't know how these impacts are going to impact your body, and drug overdoses are on the rise. She also says this is all the more reason why the DEA is encouraging Montanans to take part in "National Take Back Day" this Saturday:

Stacy Zinn: This Saturday, October 23, between 10am and 2pm, we're going to have our 21st National Take Back Day. And what that means is that if you have any unused prescription pills, or even any vape products, you bring them into your local city. It's either going to be at the sheriff's department or could be and you got to look up, go on to dea.gov and figure out what location in your city is going to be having the gathering.

Zinn says you'll be able to drop of your pills "no questions asked" so these old, expired unused prescription drugs can be taken from your medicine cabinet and kept off the streets.

 

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