New ‘Grey Death’ drug kills inmate

ALBANY COUNTY, New York (WXXA) – The powerful street drug “Grey Death” , a mix of opioids, appears to be behind a New York inmate’s death.

After testing a mysterious powder authorities say an inmate was in possession of when he was found unconscious Saturday, sheriff’s found that it contained heroin and fentanyl, and they’re concerned.

Sheriff Craig Apple. Albany County: “It basically gave us a cocktail for death. It was heroin, it was fentanyl, it had a couple other medicines in it, over the counter medicine. And it also had some prescribed medicine for blood pressure. It’s like they took everything and kind of threw it in there and pushed it out onto the streets.”

This cocktail is believed to be a new drug called ‘Grey Death’ and Sheriff Craig Apple says he’s worried. Sheriff Craig Apple: “Something like this though is almost instant death, and it’s important to also remember that Narcan might not work on this.”

The CDC reported Friday, among 70,237 drug overdose deaths in 2017, 47,600 (67.8%) involved an opioid.

Investigators say that they are concerned that it might be starting to spread out on the streets. Sheriff Craig Apple: “It’s very scary. We’re hoping that this is extremely isolated, it’s bad enough that it was located inside our jail, which means it was smuggled in there somehow.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo did sign a bill earlier this year, allowing for counties to purchase body scanners, similar to airport scanners, to cut down on inmates smuggling drugs into the prisons.

Sheriff Apple says Albany County has the money set aside, but they are waiting for the health department to establish regulations before purchasing the machine. Sheriff Craig Apple: “That’s a preventative measure. Unfortunately, this young individual at this point, all points are leading toward an overdose, but we can’t confirm that yet.”

The inmate was identified as Shane Lemperle. Officials are still investigating his death.