Coloring book used in failed drug smuggling attempt

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Friends and relatives of three jail inmates in New Jersey tried to use a coloring book to smuggle drugs into their relatives, authorities announced Tuesday. The attempt was foiled by officials, who recieved a tip that the coloring books were filled with more than just messy scribbles and adorable notes from children.

In fact, patches on the coloring book pages were the drug Suboxone, normally used to treat heroin addiction, which is also considered a controlled dangerous substance. Reuters reports that the Suboxone ‘was dissolved into a paste and then painted into the coloring book.

Talk about going outside the lines.

[Update 5:25 p.m. Thursday: An earlier version of this post called the drug ‘Subozone.’]

-- Carolyn Kellogg