Inside the package was "a clear bag with a white powder substance," she told police. She then gave the bag to two friends. The police report does not specify if either Ainsworth or Seaver received any part of that package.
Local authorities believe at least 15 teens may be connected to the recreational use of Pink. According to Carpenter, several searches at the Park City school where the students attend found traces of both methamphetamine and U-47700 on the kids' belongings.
While 80 deaths nationwide have been linked to the synthetic opioid, only four states have banned U-47700. Alarmed by eight deaths directly associated with Pink, Florida passed a law in September prohibiting the opioid. Ohio, Georgia, and Wyoming had done so previously.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency took its own action on September 7 by temporarily classifying U-47700 as a Schedule I drug under the federal Controlled Substances Act, essentially making it illegal throughout the United States. This officially puts Pink in the same category as other dangerous drugs, including heroin, LSD, and ecstasy.
While the federal government and some states are proactively banning Pink, many states are just learning that U-47700 even exists. Most transactions are done online and through the mail, so they go unnoticed by law enforcement unless an overdose death occurs. Additionally, crafty chemists can modify the formula and create new variations of Pink, essentially skirting states laws against the drug.
"The hardest part is when something new comes up, and no one in the country or world has seen it in a forensic setting yet and trying to decide what that actual structure or drug is," said Bryan Holden, senior forensic scientist with the Utah Department of Public Safety. "Sometimes we have had cases where the substance sat for months and months -- no one had ever seen it before, and until someone else sees it or manufactures it then we kind of know what it is."
