All treatment calls are accepted by drug and alcohol centers advertising with the Call Affiliate LLC network. The Indiana Department of Homeland Security is warning about the new drug called “Gray Death” that doesn’t just kill the drug users with even the slightest contact – but the first responders who come to help as well. The information contained on this website is not intended to be a substitute for, or to be relied upon as, medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
General Dangers Of Opioid Addiction
Police officers have started wearing gloves to prevent overdosing simply from skin contact with seized samples. The opioid – which looks like a concrete mix – is a highly potent combination of heroin, fentanyl (a synthetic opioid), cafentanil (which is also used as an elephant tranquilizer) and U (synthetic opioid). Because of its potency, anyone who uses heroin and other illicit opioids is at risk for an overdose or other health complications from gray death even if they have already built up a high tolerance. The presence of gray death in Ohio is cause for significant concern.
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Gray death is a relatively new street opioid that has only appeared in certain places in the United States, like Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. What law enforcement officials know about it so far is that it is a form of heroin that has synthetic opioid drugs mixed into it. In recent years, a mixture of synthetic opioids started appearing on the street called gray death. It can be lethal in small doses, and highly toxic if encountered by accidental contact. COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — It’s being called “gray death” — a new and dangerous opioid combo that underscores the ever-changing nature of the U.S. addiction crisis. The gray death is a combination of opioids strong enough to immediately cause an overdose death.
Gray Death: A Deadly Opioid Combination
He’s now sober and runs a treatment organization, Fight for Recovery, in Clyde, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of Toledo. Gray death is a dangerous substance requiring hands-on care and monitoring. If you or a loved one is struggling with an addiction, help is available. Webber, 25, said a typical new drug combination he’s seeing is heroin combined with 3-methylfentanyl, a more powerful version of fentanyl. It’s one of the reasons he tells users never to take drugs when they’re by themselves.
- However, other substances such as cocaine have also been laced with opioids that resulted in illness and death.
- Once cravings and withdrawals set in, this means the individual would have to consume more amounts to feel the effects of the drug.
- Depending on the substances found in each batch of gray death, the risk of negative effects varies.
- These deadly combinations are becoming a hallmark of the heroin and opioid epidemic, which the government says resulted in 33,000 fatal overdoses nationally in 2015.
- Learn about the side effects, dangers, and facts of gray death, as well as treatment options.
But gray death is commonly shipped into the country by Chinese chemists. A person can overdose on a tiny amount of gray death, within seconds of being exposed to it. Fentanyl is 100 times stronger than morphine, so it, too, is considered dangerous. Doctors still prescribe it to patients who are experiencing severe pain from chronic conditions, such as cancer. The amount and type of ingredients that it contains seem to vary depending on who manufacturers the drug. What makes it unique is that it is more potent than any other type of heroin that has ever been made before.
Can the New Drug ‘Gray Death’ Be Transmitted Through the Air?
A Brookhaven woman died from a mixture of heroin and fentanyl known as ‘gray death,’ GBI officials said. Law enforcement officials have to be especially careful because they routinely check vehicles, bags, and homes where gray death might be. This can put them how to tell when alcohol is affecting your relationships at risk of accidentally overdosing on it if they don’t have several vials of Narcan with them to reverse its effects. Gray death contains fentanyl or carfentanil, so it has a high lipid solubility, which means that it can easily be absorbed into the skin.
The action of naloxone is hindered by opioids’ higher affinity for the µ-opioid receptor5. According to drugs.com, people should avoid contact with it because furanyl, fentanyl and U are lethal at very low doses. « Gray death » powder can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin and can be extremely toxic, even in the smallest quantities, and rapidly lead to fatal respiratory depression, the website says.
Gray death ingredients and their concentrations are unknown to users, making it particularly lethal, Kilcrease said. In addition, because these strong drugs can be absorbed through the skin, simply touching the powder puts users at risk, she said. In fact, there was recently a news story about an Ohio law enforcement officer who overdosed on benzodiazepine withdrawal the substance when he tried to brush the powder off his uniform. The main reason he survived was because several emergency medical technicians were already at the site and were able to give him Narcan injections until he could get to the hospital. It is impossible to predict what substances gray death will contain and how potent it will be.
Synthetic opioids are produced to mimic the effects of natural opioids. They have fueled a spate of overdose deaths in Ohio and across the country. In 2020, for example, over 56,000 deaths occurred because of these drugs, which is more than any other type of opioid. Investigators who nicknamed the street mixture have detected it or recorded overdoses blamed on it in Alabama, Georgia and Ohio. Gray Death is a potent and synthetic opioid that’s mixed with other drugs on the street. A local police department in Louisiana is warning people about a potentially lethal drug combination called « gray death » — a substance so powerful, they warn you shouldn’t even touch it.
Those are the same two drugs linked to the death of Prince last year, pressed into counterfeit pain pills found with him when he died. It’s only the latest example of weird mixtures of deadly chemicals, chiefly the surgical painkiller fentanyl and its derivatives, turning up in the illegal drug marketplace. The best addiction treatment facilities for people who have an opioid use disorder provide a combination of medication-assisted treatment with cognitive behavioral therapy for a well-rounded approach to recovery. For more information on how to find a drug rehab center for your addiction issues, contact one of our treatment specialists today. Gray death, sometimes also known as ‘Grey Death,’ can be gray or ashen in color and resemble concrete mixing powder. But that’s often not the case, as he found out in 2014 when he overdosed on fentanyl-laced heroin.
Along with the euphoria the drugs deliver to brain cells that quickly become habituated, this dependence partly explains why someone would snort or inject something that looks like concrete. In Ohio, the coroner’s office serving the Cincinnati area says a similar compound has been coming in for months. The Ohio attorney general ‘s office has analyzed eight samples matching the gray death mixture from around the state. Therefore, it is highly recommended that people who struggle with an opioid use disorder get treatment for their addiction before it escalates to the point they are willing to try this type of dangerous substance.
Sign up now for a weekly digest of the top drug and alcohol news that impacts your work, life and community. In some East Coast cities, white powder sold as heroin contains only fentanyl, according to reports from April’s Rx Drug Abuse Summit in Atlanta. Just when blood alcohol level chart we’d thought we’d heard it all, an even more lethal drug concoction popped up on our radar. It’s just the latest killer in the opioid epidemic ravaging our country. Most common types of heroin are smuggled into the United States by Mexican cartel members.
The dog was taken to a veterinarian who found no underlying medical conditions that would explain what happened, she said. A week after their beloved family pet died at a Gloucester County dog grooming business, a Woodbury Heights family say their grief has turned to anger as they look for answers. Addiction Resource aims to provide only the most current, accurate information in regards to addiction and addiction treatment, which means we only reference the most credible sources available. Along the way, Eric worked as a collaborating investigator for the field trials of the DSM-5 and completed an agreement to provide mental health treatment to underserved communities with the National Health Service Corp. Join 40,000+ People Who Receive Our Newsletter Get valuable resources on addiction, recovery, wellness, and our treatments delivered directly to your inbox. « You don’t know what you’re getting with these things, » Webber said.
It is much more potent than heroin, according to the Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. People use the drug by injecting, swallowing, smoking or snorting it. An exact number of deaths from the drug is unknown, but a spokeswoman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation reported they’ve seen 50 overdose cases involving gray death over the past three months. In order to prevent more deaths from occurring, authorities are trying to create awareness about the danger of using this lethal concoction before it becomes a problem too large to combat.
Some batches may contain a synthetic opioid known as carfentanil, which is used to sedate large animals. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) deaths from prescription, synthetic, and illicit opioids increased tenfold between 1999 and 2021. Gray death with heroin, Pink, carfentanil, and fentanyl is potentially the most lethal street drug available.