What is 'Gray Death' and what are the effects of this drug?

The great variety and danger of drugs currently available in the world is a real public health problem in society, and especially for the young population in countries around the world. world.

The emergence of new drugs represents a real challenge for the authorities of the various countries, which are found more and more frequently. with the boom in the consumption of harmful substances that are relatively unknown (due to their origins in illegal manufacturing) and whose effects are really devastating.

East the case of the “gray death”, a drug of recent appearance and similar in appearance to that of a stone or a piece of cement.

• Related article: "Addiction to opioid drugs"

What is the "gray death"?

The "gray death" contains a mixture of different psychoactive substances: mainly heroin, fentanyl, carfentanil (a sedative used in elephants) and a synthetic opioid known as U-477700. It is a combination of illegal substances whose use has wreaked havoc in the United States, as well as in the United Kingdom and parts of Eastern Europe.

As we have seen, gray death is not in itself a substance that can be reduced to a single molecule, as it consists of a mixture of drugs that are already harmful and highly dangerous. This means that, depending on the proportions used and the steps that have been followed to carry out the preparation, its effects are a little different. However, in all cases it is a highly toxic product and with the capacity to generate addiction.

On some occasions this drug may include other substances such as cocaine, but in any of the cases, the consumption of this combination of substances harmful to the body, exerts a highly toxic effect on the person who ingests it, much more so than any other drug alone.

Since its appearance in the United States a few years ago, what is known about this substance is that it can be consumed in different ways, such as occurs with other drugs: by injection, orally, in the form of tobacco, snorting or absorption through the skin, a fact that adds dangerousness.

From what has been known so far the "gray death" is one of the most deadly drugs available in the currently on the black market and its effects must be known by the general population to avoid its spread and use indiscriminate. Let's see what they consist of.

What are its effects?

Below we highlight the most relevant effects of the "gray death",

1. High mortality

Due to its high lethality, this drug has few effects associated with its consumption and this is because people who consume "Ggis death" usually suffer an overdose that is very difficult to treat, which causes the death of the consumer most of the time.

The danger posed by the consumption of this drug is so high that most of the time death by overdose occurs in young people who consume it for the first time and in a single dose.

2. Dangerous to the touch

As indicated above, another of the most outstanding characteristics of this dangerous drug is the fact that it can be absorbed through the skin due to its powerful toxicity.

This fact enables the harmful effects caused in the body of the person who consumes the "gray death" can be started just by touching it with parts of the body with specially tissues exposed.

4. Psychoactive effects on the body

The effects caused in the organism by the consumption of the "gray death" are much more powerful than those caused by the continued use of opiates of all kinds separately, whether they are heroin, fentanyl or opioids of any kind.

This drug causes both physical and psychological damage in the person who consumes it, with a high probability of being irreparable even if the person does not die from an overdose. In addition, the combination of drugs causes the emotional, behavioral and perceptual phenomena that the person under the effects of this substance are very changeable and difficult to predict, although in general it is usually introduce strong emotional instability and delusional thoughts.

5. Overdose

As indicated, the "gray death" includes in its composition several very potent opiates, combined in sometimes with other highly dangerous drugs that have very harmful effects on the body, and usually, a single use is associated with a high probability of ending in death.

Overdose is the most common consequence of the consumption of this drug, due to the large amount of psychoactive substances that make up and the fact that their effect on the person is many times stronger than that of morphine or 100 times stronger than the Fentanyl.

Experts agree that Naloxone is the most effective drug to reverse the cases of overdose of this drug and also of the majority of drugs containing opiates, but having this knowledge is insufficient to make "gray death" use insurance.

Difficulty in diagnosis

Both the studies carried out in the United States on this drug and the analyzes of specific cases in individuals who have suffered an overdose due to "gray death" show the great difficulty of scientifically analyzing a drug that is the product of the combination of so many different substances.

The diversity of active ingredients combined, which vary from case to case, make the work of doctors and specialists who analyze each one of the overdose deaths extremely difficult. And it is that sometimes, not even doctors are able to know for sure what substances many of the victims consumed.

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