More than 80 pounds of fentanyl laced with heroin was seized by Bartow-Cartersville Drug Task Force after officials along I-75.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid pain reliever typically used to treat chronic pain in cancer patients, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Fentanyl is the same drug linked to the death of musician Prince. According to the CDC, the drug is said to be 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times more powerful than heroin.
Officials originally discovered the drugs during a traffic stop in March, Channel 2 reported. Initially thinking it was cocaine, Georgia Bureau of Investigation determined it was fentanyl.
The drug bust is one of the largest in the U.S., Capt. Mike Mayton told Channel 2. Mayton said the drugs were more than likely made in a factory in China then shipped to Mexico before arriving in Georgia.
Mayton told Channel 2 he is not sure if the drugs were supposed to be delivered to Georgia or passing through the state.
Fentanyl is linked to a spike in overdose deaths and is usually coupled with heroin to make the drug stronger and profitable, Channel 2 reported.
“There’s no telling how many lives were saved by this [stop],” Mayton told Channel 2. “This one seizure, that was huge.”
A kilo of fentanyl sells for about $3,500 dollars, Channel 2 reported. A kilo of real heroin sells between $20,000 and $30,000.
“So they’re taking this lower cost product, adding it to heroin, which is making more volume for them,” Mayton told Channel 2.
For Dakota Palz, the seizure only reminds him of his friend who died from a possible fentanyl overdose.
Palz told Channel 2 his friend “shot up in his arm, and his mom found him dead the next morning. It could have been mixed with fentanyl? It could have been.”
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