COLUMBUS – Authorities are issuing warnings about a new and dangerous opioid combo they’re dubbing “gray death” that underscores the ever-changing nature of the U.S. addictions epidemic.
“Normally you could walk by one of our scientists and say ‘what are you testing?’ and they’ll tell you heroin or we’re testing fentanyl,” Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said. “Now, sometimes they’re looking at it, at least initially, and say ‘well, we don’t know. We got to really get into this and see what is in there.”
Investigators say they’ve detected the mixture or recorded overdoses blamed on it in Ohio, Alabama and Georgia.
“Every time you shoot up, you’re literally playing Russian roulette with your life,” says Richie Webber, an ex-addict from Clyde.
The drug looks like concrete mix and varies in consistency from a hard, chunky material to a fine powder.
The substance is a combination of several opioids, including heroin, fentanyl, carfentanil — sometimes used to tranquilize large animals like elephants — and a synthetic opioid called U-47700.
Deneen Kilcrease, who manages the chemistry section at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s crime lab, calls gray death one of scariest combinations she’s seen in 20 years of doing forensic chemistry drug analysis.