ENFIELD -- Enfield police officers are no stranger to the impact heroin addiction is having on Connecticut.
"This year alone we've had nine deaths so far that we believe are related to heroin overdoses." said Lt. William of Enfield Police Department.
Enfield Police said they have responded to 13 overdoses in a 12 day period.
"We're seeing it a lot and a lot of the cases that we have now are linked to Fentanyl."
Fentynol is just one of the deadly ingredients in a new extremely potent heroin mixture dubbed "gray death." Carfentanil? Another.
"Carfentanil is another popular one that's linked to anesthetics for elephants and things of that nature," said Lt. William.
The deadly opioid concoction gets its name for its gray cement look.
"It's down south right now, it's in the Midwest, it's as close as Ohio that I know of, Georgia, Alabama are reporting cases of overdose deaths and it's supposed to be extremely potent, more potent than the Fentanyl we are dealing with now," said Lt. William.
Fentanyl alone coming in at a potency 50-100 times more powerful than morphine and can cause an overdose simply by breathing it in or through skin contact, posing new dangers to law enforcement.
"We're changing the way that we do things. We're telling their officers that if they see, make sure that they have gloves on and make sure that they use universal precautions and to just protect themselves," said Lt. William.
Dangers that may soon be amped up exponentially should gray death make its way to Connecticut.
"I think it's a reality, at some point in time it's going to reach our part of the country," said Lt. William.
Along with Enfield police, Willimantic and Bristol police said the risk for death for users are spiking as these opioid mixture continue to evolve.
