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Addiction: ‘Gray death’ shows horrors of drug plague

Perhaps it is a signal of the confidence drug pushers have in the constant supply of new customers upon which they can rely; but the steady stream of new, deadly substances they sell to willing users underlines the entirely irrational nature of drug addiction, and the degree to which some are willing to exploit it.

Newest on the scene is “gray death,” a nickname given by investigators to the combination of heroin with fentanyl, carfentanil and a synthetic opioid called U-47700, that has the appearance of concrete mix.

“Gray death is one of the scariest combinations that I have ever seen in nearly 20 years of forensic chemistry drug analysis,” said Deneen Kilcrease, manager of the chemistry section at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The GBI has received 50 overdose cases in the last three months involving gray death.

Now coroners in regions including Cincinnati are seeing similar compounds — samples similar to the gray death mixture, which is difficult to pinpoint because it is ever-changing. This trend is particularly disturbing in light of the 3,050 people who died in Ohio of drug overdoses last year — most of them the result of opioid painkillers or heroin (or what users thought was just heroin, when they bought it).

Many addicts believe they are purchasing pure heroin or pills; apparently trusting their dealers are not selling them intentionally deadly cocktails.

Gray death is a perfect example of the purely evil nature of the industry that has sprung up around the plague of addiction afflicting Appalachia, and, increasingly, the rest of the country.

“You don’t know what you’re getting with these things,” said a former user who was revived after an overdose on heroin combined with 3-methylfentanyl. “Every time you shoot up you’re literally playing Russian roulette with your life.”

Addicts desperate for their next high are willing to take that risk, and hand over their money to dealers willing to kill them.

God bless the law enforcement officers, first responders, lawmakers, educators, health professionals and families trying to fight such madness.

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