Ashley Moody unleashes McGruff the Crime Dog in fentanyl fight

Florida’s Top Cop is teaming up with America’s most famous Crime Dog to take a bite out of the fentanyl epidemic.

Attorney General Ashley Moody appeared Thursday with McGruff the Crime Dog in her latest attempt to call attention to the drug plaguing communities in Florida and throughout the United States.

The goal is “to reach Florida communities” and to “bring back some of the important crime prevention messages from McGruff.”

Moody noted that “counterfeit products” work to “benefit illicit transnational criminal organizations and cartels,” with “fake pills sold on social media” that “contain fentanyl.”

“It is terrifying to me,” Moody said, noting she is a mother of a school-age child herself.

Fentanyl deaths among kids aged 5 to 14 tripled in 2021, Moody noted, with counterfeit pharmaceuticals striking the young, including a “14-year-old Boy Scout” recently.

“He took a pill that had enough fentanyl in it to kill four adults,” Moody asserted.

McGruff is a registered trademark of the National Crime Prevention Council, which staged the event. The crime dog noted his 42 years in law enforcement, and said “crime prevention is everybody’s business,” hoping everyone would help “take a bite out of crime” as he has for decades.

Appearing with the AG and the celebrated crime dog was a man built for speed, NASCAR driver Joey Gase.

Gase will drive his #53 Ford Mustang with McGruff’s image and the message “Go For Real” to let teens know not to buy counterfeit products.

“He has offered to bring attention to fighting crime and helping children,” Moody contended, saying that those on hand are “waving the red flag on Fentanyl” and reminding children never to purchase counterfeit pills.

“It could be Xanax or Adderall, but they are far from real,” Moody said.

Gase said the campaign mattered to him as a father of twin boys, and was excited to drive with the crime-fighting canine on his car.

“I think McGruff can give us some extra luck,” he said.

Moody has spotlighted the deleterious effects of fentanyl many times before, often with warnings that it could target children and teenagers in ways they wouldn’t suspect, especially in light of evidence that children under the age of 14 are most likely to suffer fentanyl poisoning.

Last month, the AG sounded the alarm about vape cartridges that potentially could be adulterated with the substance.

“We’re also seeing news stories about high school students suffering from complications after using vapes that might contain fentanyl,” Moody asserted. “Any substance sold on the black market could contain fentanyl. It’s in counterfeit pills, cocaine, meth and possibly even in illicit vaping pods.”

Ahead of Halloween 2022, Moody warned that the holiday may be the “scariest” of her life given the ways the substance can be masked for unwitting consumers.

“It comes in rainbow colors. It can take all shapes or sizes,” Moody warned. “We’re seeing it in pill form. We’re seeing it in ways that could look like sidewalk chalk. We know that it’s being transported in candy packaging: Skittles, Sweet Tarts, Whoppers, Reese’s.”