JEFFERSON PARISH, La. — A new synthetic opioid was found on the scene of a person who died in Jefferson Parish a month ago. Toxicology just came back Wednesday.
Purple heroin was in the deceased's system.
“It was recovered at the scene, not uncommon in these over doses because they're typically accidental, so sometimes you'll even find these people with the syringe still in their arm,” said Jefferson Parish Coroner Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich.
Purple heroin or brorphine is a lab created opioid like fentanyl. Both are 100 times the potency of morphine. The DEA says fentanyl is shipped into Mexico from China then smuggled into the U.S.
But there are two more alarming headlines in this story.
“In 2020, we're on track to way more than double the number of synthetic fentanyl overdoses compared to 2019 which is a pretty dramatic increase," Dr. Cvitanovich said.
He says overdoses were up 15 percent in each of the last two years but jumped to 120 percent during this pandemic year.
And there's another issue.
“This brorphine that we obtained is actually mixed with methamphetamine,” he said.
Just last month in September, the DEA told us of a big increase in methamphetamine trafficking in this region that is also tied to the increase in gun violence.
“A lot of it was already smuggled into the United States and was sitting in these transportation hubs. Then when the borders, they began shutting the borders down, because of COVID-19, they began needing to supply all the other distribution centers,” said Brad Byerley, the Special Agent in Charge of the New Orleans Field Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
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The DEA says there are no current investigations or seizures of purple heroin in the area. It's only been seen in a few dozen overdose deaths in Michigan, Illinois and Arizona.
So, is this first local death a sign of more to come from this new drug?
“In the last month since this death happened, we've got a bunch more cases that have been sent off for toxicology, so I may have more cases coming out and we'll see,” Dr. Cvitanovich said.
Doctors say meth is one of the most addictive drugs, even after a first use.
Metropolitan Human Services District has a 24-hour Crisis line at 504-826-2675 for addiction and mental illness help.
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