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Police agencies on look out for new drug cocktail 'Gray Death'

Posted at 4:40 PM, May 01, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-02 22:55:22-04

Ohio law enforcement officials in Lorain County are putting out a bulletin to warn authorities of a new drug that has hit the streets called Gray Death. 

The new drug got its name because it resembles cement and contains a deadly mix.

"We have put out the bulletin to all of the other drug task forces in Ohio,” said Lorain County Detective Jim Larkin.

Larkin said heroin addicts are always chasing a stronger high, no matter the risks.

"Gray Death, why anybody, hey here's some Gray Death, but what do you think is going to happen to you? Why do you think it's called Gray Death?" Larkin said.

Gray Death is made up of three opiates combined with heroin or fentanyl.

"It's amazing to me that they find out one of their friends died from an overdose from the drug and they immediately try to find out where he got it from because they want to try it too,” Larkin said.

Larkin said Gray Death is showing up in the southern United States and could be on the move as drug dealers look to make more money.

"They're having problems down in Georgia with Gray Death because, even though right now it's down in Georgia, it will eventually work its way around the country,” Larkin said.

Larkin said people in their early 20s, teenagers and high schoolers trying heroin and drug cocktails think they're bulletproof.

Ohio is leading the country in overdose deaths. 

Doug Rhode with the Lake County Crime Lab thinks it’s because drug dealers can target both large urban and rural areas in Ohio.

"They're targeting Ohio and I believe it might be because of our interstate system, you can go north and south, east and west easily and that covers most of Ohio," he said. "There's no letting up of this epidemic, certainly not in Lake County and Ohio either."

Larkin said there were 131 overdose deaths in Lorain County last year.

There have been 40 already this year.