95.3 / 88.5 FM Grand Rapids and 95.3 FM Muskegon
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

GRPD issues fentanyl warning

GRPD badge
Grand Rapids Police Department
/
grcity.us

The Grand Rapids Police Department is issuing a warning about a potentially dangerous drug hitting west Michigan streets.

The Grand Rapids Police Department says it’s discovering more fentanyl being sold and used.

In a news release, GRPD explains “Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times as potent as morphine.”

The department says there have been six cases of users mixing Fentanyl with cocaine and heroin. It’s a combination that can be fatal.

While the warning is issued to residents, the release also reads “specifically illegal drug users” adding, “Due to its rapid rate of absorption into the human body, reports indicate that as little as the amount equivalent to the size of a few grains of table salt can be deadly.”

While this is a warning, authorities are also extending help to drug users recommending the website rehab-international.org and redproject.org as first steps toward beating drug addiction.

Patrick joined WGVU Public Media in December, 2008 after eight years of investigative reporting at Grand Rapids' WOOD-TV8 and three years at WYTV News Channel 33 in Youngstown, Ohio. As News and Public Affairs Director, Patrick manages our daily radio news operation and public interest television programming. An award-winning reporter, Patrick has won multiple Michigan Associated Press Best Reporter/Anchor awards and is a three-time Academy of Television Arts & Sciences EMMY Award winner with 14 nominations.