The mixing poses a deadly risk to users and also challenges investigators trying to figure out what they’re dealing with this time around, said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. In Ohio, the coroner’s office that serves the Cincinnati area said a similar compound has been coming in for months. The Ohio Attorney General’s Office has analyzed eight samples from around the state that match the gray death mixture. If you or someone you know struggles with drug abuse or addiction, reach out for help. Treatment options are available, so you don’t need to navigate the road to recovery alone.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — It’s being called “gray death” — a new and dangerous opioid combo that underscores the ever-changing nature of the U.S. addiction crisis. 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. Reversing a gray death overdose may require multiple doses of naloxone.
Can You Overdose on Gray Death?
These drugs can lead to deadly overdoses, and combining them amplifies that risk. It’s being called “gray death” and the new and dangerous drug combination underscores the ever-changing face of the opioid epidemic. 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. St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana adult children of alcoholics is alerting the public about the drug in wake of recent arrests. Another reason for the appearance of drugs like gray death is that foreign chemists producing drugs overseas and sending them to the U.S. can quickly change their formulations to evade U.S. drug laws. These evolving substances tend to get more and more potent, and with manufacturers adding these constantly changing drugs to heroin, users can never be sure what they’re getting.
A typical new combination he’s seeing is heroin combined with 3-methylfentanyl, a more powerful version of fentanyl, said Webber, 25. Some communities also are seeing fentanyl mixed with non-opioids, such as cocaine. In Rhode Island, the state has recommended that individuals with a history of cocaine use receive supplies of the anti-overdose drug naloxone. Gray death is arguably one of the most concerning drugs when it comes to the risk of overdose, but it might not even be the worst. Manufacturers are constantly producing new substances to evade laws that struggle to keep up with a changing drug landscape. Unfortunately, heroin users end up unwittingly serving as the testers for these new products and paying with their lives.
What does gray death look like?
Fortunately, the same tools and methods used to reverse a heroin overdose can be used to reverse a gray death overdose, but the process is more challenging. A gray death overdose might require multiple doses of naloxone (Narcan). Some people will need up to 10 doses to recover,6 which can be a huge problem, since family members or first responders may not have this amount on hand. 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. But that’s often not the case, as he found out in 2014 when he overdosed on fentanyl-laced heroin. He’s now sober and runs a treatment organization, Fight for Recovery, in Clyde, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of Toledo.
Fentanyl-related deaths spiked so high in Ohio in 2015 that state health officials asked the CDC to send scientists to help address the problem. When added to Gray Death, it creates as lethal a combo as any out there, according to Baer. “Pink” by itself has been blamed for at least 46 deaths in 2015 and 2016 in New York, New Hampshire, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin, North Carolina, according to the DEA. It looks like a chunk of concrete, can kill with one dose, and it’s got an ominous name — Gray Death.
- “We’ve not yet seen a national proliferation of the ‘gray death’ substance,” the DEA spokesman wrote.
- When using buprenorphine and naloxone to treat overdoses of strong narcotics from the fentanyl group, problems may frequently develop.
- These drugs can lead to deadly overdoses, and combining them amplifies that risk.
- Gray Death is a potent and synthetic opioid that’s mixed with other drugs on the street.
- Most were the result of opioid painkillers or their relative, heroin.
- The combo is just the latest in the trend of heroin mixed with other opioids, such as fentanyl, that has been around for a few years.
Gray death has a much higher potency than heroin, according to a bulletin issued by the Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. Some of the pills taken from Prince’s estate after the musician’s overdose death in April 2016 contained U-47700. The drug first started appearing in Georgia and Alabama in 2017, and then turned up in Ohio and Pennsylvania before making its way to Louisiana, KLFY-tv reports.
If the drug is mixed with carfentanil, it is 100 times more potent than fentanyl and 10,000 times more potent than morphine. Investigators who nicknamed the street mixture have detected it or recorded overdoses blamed on it in Alabama, Georgia and Ohio. The adverse effects of gray death can be arizona bills aim to curb the sober living fraud that bilked taxpayers mild to severe because no two batches are exactly the same in composition. Confusion, difficulty moving, tiredness, tremors, balance loss, seizures, mental fog, vomiting and nausea, myosis, spasms or generalized convulsion, and hypoventilation are some of the major side effects of gray death.
America’s Opioid Epidemic
Gray death is extremely dangerous, even in a very small dose, if formulated with multiple potent opioids. A user typically will not know what is contained in the mix when they use it, and the product can be fatal. 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. Mix in the powerful painkiller fentanyl, which has 50 times more punch.
Gray Death is a potent and synthetic opioid that’s mixed with other drugs on the street. 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.
Symptoms of gray death overdose include a faded or sweaty face, a languid body, grunting noises, purplish or bluish lips, shallow breathing, irregular pulse, and speech difficulties4. Multiple doses of the opioid-reversing drug naloxone (Narcan) may be needed to treat gray death overdose. It is frequently used to combat respiratory problems brought on by opioid overdose. When using buprenorphine and naloxone to treat overdoses of strong narcotics from the fentanyl group, problems may frequently develop. The action of naloxone is hindered by opioids’ higher affinity for the µ-opioid receptor5.
If you’re unsure where to start, talking to a therapist about your addiction is a good place. A therapist can help you unpack the triggers driving you to do drugs, like Gray Death. They can also help you find healthier coping mechanisms for those triggers. Mixing them with other chemicals only amplifies the risk and makes them even more harmful, if not deadly.
And because these strong drugs can be absorbed through the skin, simply touching the powder puts users at risk, she said. Gray death ingredients and their concentrations are unknown to users, and they can be particularly lethal, Kilcrease said. And because these strong drugs can be absorbed through the skin, simply touching the powder puts users at risk.
The drug looks like concrete mix and varies in consistency from a hard, chunky material to a fine powder. Gray death is a street name or a slang term that is frequently used to describe a mixture of illegal drugs – mainly synthetic opioids and other synthetic narcotics. Psychoactive components such as heroin, fentanyl, or U (an extremely strong synthetic opioid painkiller) are commonly found in drug cocktails. Occasionally, 6 ways to lower high blood pressure without using medication it is in combination with other substances like cocaine, amphetamines, or other synthetic designer drugs. It can be injected intravenously, processed into a fine powder, snorted intranasally, smoked, or consumed orally in tablet form1. 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.