Complaint calls lead to drug raid

Dryer –

Public complaints about suspected drug traffic in Red Brush led to a house raid recently.

The Surry County Sheriff’s Office said it received complaints about 136 Shamrock Avenue, which is off Pine Ridge Road, about a third of a mile west of Red Brush Road.

“Narcotics detectives with Surry County were able to develop leads that led to the issuance of a search warrant for that address,” stated a press release from Capt. Scott Hudson. “After the execution of the search warrant, numerous illegal controlled substances were located inside of the residence.”

These drugs included meth, heroin, fentanyl and buprenorphine and led to the arrest of the woman living in the home.

Narcotics detectives charged Rebecca Marie Dryer, 36, a white female, with felony counts of possession with intent to manufacture/sell/deliver heroin, possession of meth, possession of Schedule One fentanyl, and maintaining a drug dwelling.

She also was charged with misdemeanor counts of possession of Schedule Three buprenorphine (known by brand names Subutex and Buprenex), possession of drug paraphernalia, and child abuse.

Dryer was processed by a judicial official and transported to the Surry County Detention Center. She received a $15,000 secured bond with a July 17 appearance in Surry County District Court.

She has no other pending court dates on the court docket, and she doesn’t have any past convictions listed on the N.C. Department of Public Safety’s database.

Potency

With so many opioids in pharmacies and circulating on the streets, how can people compare one drug to another?

Website DrugRehab.com lists some common opioids and uses morphine, which has been around for several decades, as a tool for comparison.

Codeine, a common ingredient in cough syrup, is between 10 and 14 times less potent than morphine, the site describes. Demerol, which has been used to treat pain since the 1940s, is about 7-10 times less potent than morphine.

Hydrocodone is considered equal in strength to morphine. Vicodin uses a small amount of hydrocodone with as much acetaminophen as an extra-strength Tylenol. This was long thought to produce a low potential for addiction, leading to Vicodin being the most prescribed drug in the country by 2014, the website says.

Oxycodone (Percocet, Oxycontin) is listed as 1.5 times the strength of morphine and Vicodin. Methadone is listed as three times as strong as morphine.

Buprenorphine, as recovered in this case, can be between 25 and 100 times stronger than morphine, depending on the formulation and other factors. Fentanyl is 100 times stronger than morphine; it gets into the blood stream quickly and binds tightly to pain receptors, making it much more difficult to counteract with Narcan in an emergency. Sometimes multiple doses are needed.

Dryer