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The Ruthless Efficiency of Ultrapotent Street Drugs
The New York Times • • health
Key Points:
- Sleepy, a 44-year-old Baltimore native, grew up in a neighborhood plagued by heroin addiction and initially aspired to be a police officer but turned to selling crack and heroin in his teens.
- In 2007, Sleepy was imprisoned for attempted murder after firing a gun at gang members and was released in 2022, returning to a transformed and more dangerous drug landscape.
- Baltimore currently has the highest fatal overdose rate among large U.S. cities, with 110 deaths per 100,000 residents, driven by a shift from prescription opioids to heroin and now synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
- The drug supply in Baltimore has become increasingly lethal and unpredictable due to the influx of ultrapotent, lab-made synthetic drugs and dangerous combinations reaching the streets almost daily.
