HORRY COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – The heroin problem in Horry County is getting worse. Law enforcement officers says they’re starting to see heroin laced with fentanyl, which is more dangerous.
Fentanyl is 40 times more potent than heroin and 100 time stronger than morphine, according to DEA agents.
“Fentanyl is used primarily, from what I understand, for an end stage cancer patient, who is basically dying relatively soon,” said Florence Resident Agent in Charge Patrick Apel.
He says fentanyl is trans-dermal, meaning it only needs to touch your skin and you could overdose.
“From a law enforcement perspective, from a public safety perspective, fentanyl is a very dangerous drug and when people are selling fentanyl as heroin or mixed with heroin, it is a deadly concoction,”explained Apel.
The DEA’s national drug threat assessment report says fentanyl is most commonly consumed without the user knowing it and can be easily mistaken for heroin.
Horry County Coroner Robert Edge says the drug is sending people straight to the grave.
“It just sends their system into a shock. The heart goes into an arrhythmia and it does not come out,” said Edge.
During the last eight months, The Coroner’s Office reported 12 deaths from fentanyl.
“It is a lot and then if you think about those that come into the hospitals and get help in time, the numbers are much much greater,” he stated.
Edge says fentanyl is so potent, they actually measure it in micrograms.
“Kind of like a grain of salt or a grain of sugar, just a very small amount and that’s it,” explains Edge.
Agent Patrick Apel says much of this synthetic fentanyl is being manufactured in Mexico and distributed from China.
He’s worried the drug will find it’s way into knock-off prescription pills.
