A new drug that's killed nearly 50 people across the country has now claimed three lives in our state. it's a powder called "pink," and it's seven times more powerful than morphine.
This drug is illegal in all 50 states, but part of the reason its particularly dangerous: you can find it online for about $35.
In Maricopa county, a 55-year-old, a 25-year-old, and a 24-year-old were all found dead with pink in their systems. All three men had taken other drugs as well, which is commonly the case with pink.
We spoke with the DEA office here in Tucson, and even though they haven't found any cases of overdoses here yet, they say they're working on finding it here in our community.
The Arizona cases were discovered by the DEA's team that finds and arrests drug dealers responsible for overdose deaths--called the Heroin Action Enforcement Team (HEAT).
The DEA says this drug is tough to trace back to dealers because the department has to wait on toxicology reports. But, the Heroin Enforcement Action Team is being expanded in our area to help keep this drug from taking more lives.
