Deputies say they arrested man after finding deadly mix of drugs in his car

UPDATE: Chief Boone County Deputy Maj. Tom Reddin said that these new drugs tend to start in border or coastal areas, working their way into the central United States.

Rediin said this was the first he’d heard of Gray Death in mid-Missouri, but its presence could be “a sign of things to come.”

Highway Patrol Sergeant Shawn Griggs said these mixtures are getting cut with substances that even dealers may not know are included. He said that can dangerously increase the potency, making them a lethal combination.

“When they’re made clandestinely, not in a controlled environment, we have problems with quality control,” he said.

Those who suffer from serious drug addiction will not know what they’re taking.

“Tolerance becomes a factor. People need to use more,” said Griggs. “When they use more, not knowing the potency of each individual baggy, they don’t know what they’re using.”

Many law enforcement officers are discontinuing field tests of drugs because things like fentanyl can be lethal even just by touching it.

“People are literally killing themselves from the inside out ingesting this stuff,” said Reddin.

Griggs said opioid related deaths increased 31 percent in 2015. In 2016 alone, there were more than 1,300 deaths.

ORIGINAL STORY: Boone County deputies have arrested a man after witnesses reported he was passed out behind the wheel of his car on Rangeline Street in east Columbia.

Deputies dispatched to the call found a red Chevrolet Blazer stopped just south of the intersection Rangeline and Brown School Road. Deputies said when a few cars honked, the car started moving again.

Deputies said when they made contact with the driver, Ray Collins, they noticed he was shaky and his pupils were pinpoint. According to court documents, after he consented to a search, a deputy found drugs inside a crumpled $20 bill.

The drugs tested positive for cocaine, fentanyl and synthetic opioids: a mixture deputies said may be called “Gray Death.”

Deputies said they also found pills in a plastic bag and that Collins denied knowing where the pulls or substance came from.