Gray death: Dangerous opioid combo is latest mixing trend

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – 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.

Investigators say they’ve detected the mixture or recorded overdoses blamed on it in Alabama, Georgia and Ohio.

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 manages the chemistry section at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s crime lab.

She calls gray death one of scariest combinations she’s seen in 20 years of doing forensic chemistry drug analysis.

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CHATSWORTH, Georgia (WDEF) – The GBI is also warning about the arrival of the drug cocktail in Georgia.

They are testing several overdoses across the state to confirm that “gray death” was responsible.

One of them was in Murray County.

Late last year, authorities blamed a “gray material” for the suspected heroin overdose of a 21 year old at a home in Chatsworth.

The GBI Crime Lab’s Joe Karpf told WSB TV in February “This is a new combination of drugs that we’re seeing in the lab. It’s a highly potent, highly toxic combination.”