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Birthday cards pose newest fight against drugs behind bars

The Adams County Sheriff's Office said it has recently intercepted greeting cards laced with drugs and mailed to inmates.

ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. — Inside the mail room at the Adams County jail, clerks who examine envelopes and read letters addressed to inmates must now check for a new threat – birthday card paper laced with drugs. 

Deputies said they intercepted multiple attempts to smuggle narcotics into the jail through laced greeting cards or legal mail with drugs hidden inside the paper. 

"They actually paint it onto the paper," Adams County Detention Facility Chief Chris Laws said. "The inmate knows that the paper is coated with the drugs so they can tear the paper apart and just eat it."

Jail detectives Jim McKenzie and Matthew Marquez said most of the work of detection falls upon the facility's mail staff, who process about 450 pieces of mail a day. When they notice something that doesn't look right, they notify McKenzie and Marquez.

"We catch some, I'm sure there are some that go by," McKenzie said. "It's a constant battle to trying to figure out what they're trying to do." 

Credit: ACSO
An Easter card mailed to an inmate at the Adams County jail. Detectives said it was laced with drugs.

"Almost a daily basis we’re having to use Narcan on someone because they’re overdosing on fentanyl within the facility," Laws said. "It causes more crime within the facility." Deputies have also installed Narcan in the mail room and issued clerks panic buttons in fear of accidental exposure.

Holding up a yellow Easter card, McKenzie explained a slight color differential that tipped off detectives to the presence of drugs. "You can see the darker yellow on this side where it looks like it's been wet and it's dried," he said. 

In another example, Marquez said a hand-drawn picture on the inside flap of a Christmas card tested positive for meth. In that case, detectives brought felony charges against the woman who mailed the card, he said. 

Credit: ACSO
Detectives with the Adams County Sheriff's Office said the blue sky in this card sent to an inmate camouflaged contraband meth.

It's not just Adams County confronting this problem. In May, Larimer County deputies arrested 12 people on felony charges for sending drugs into the jail there. 

"The methods of introduction included paper soaked in narcotics, narcotics infused into the ink on paper and narcotics hidden in the seams of commercially available envelopes," a press release said. 

Credit: ACSO
Adams County deputies said mail clerks have become adept at recognizing suboxone strips hidden in the seals of manila envelopes.

Laws said mail clerks have become adept at recognizing suboxone strips hidden in the seals of manila envelopes and knew to closely examine medically-approved shoes sent from the outside, as drugs are sometimes hidden in their soles.

"The guys in here have nothing but time so they take that time to try to devise ways they can outsmart us," Laws said. 

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