As drug dealers look to innovate and market their product to the masses, some have started to stash their poison in “trash cans,” small multicolored capsules that have replaced traditional vials.

Authorities have found them in Baltimore, New Jersey, New York City and Philadelphia. In Baltimore, some are being used to package fentanyl, a deadly opioid that kills even in small amounts, according to a 2021 warning issued by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 

In New York, drug dealers have moved away from traditional packaging systems like vials used to sell cocaine and other drugs, said Frank Tarentino III, the special agent in charge of the DEA’s New York office.

“There was a time when cocaine was encapsulated in what we would call crack vials. … We’re seeing that substituted with these trash cans or pop-tops, or snap top-type plastic material that contains an illicit drug,” Tarentino told Fox News Digital. “It’s been reported in different schools throughout New York City that these trash cans, pop-tops are being found in the playgrounds in and around schools.”

A bag full of “trash can” containers used to stash drugs (Drug Enforcement Administration)

The DEA remains concerned about the packaging trend, Tarentino said. 

It’s “definitely appealing to young people. It is definitely a branding or drug-marketing scheme,” he said. “We’re very concerned about this happening in and around our schools and in our communities.”

The capsules appeal to dealers as well. 

They’re thicker and more durable than other containers, the DEA said, making them attractive to drug pushers. In addition, they are easier to smuggle, less likely to break apart once inside the human body and can hold up under bad weather conditions like rain, as opposed to small plastic bags.

“Trash can” drug capsules (Drug Enforcement Administration)

The New York Police Department told Fox News Digital, “We have seen this packaging.” The NYPD does not keep data on the packaging itself, a police spokesperson said. 

Fox News Digital has reached out multiple times to the New York City Departments of Education, Public Health and Parks and Recreation.

Since January, the DEA in New York has seized 7,342 pounds of cocaine and 365 pounds of fentanyl, of which 230 pounds were pills. The DEA seized 2.5 million fentanyl-laced pills. Overall, the DEA has seized more than 13.5 million pills and more than 2,132 pounds of fentanyl powder. 

Those seizures represent at least 81 million deadly doses, the agency told Fox News Digital.