A Texas mom says her son was killed by a powerful synthetic opioid known as “pink” — which is seven times stronger than morphine.
The woman is now warning parents and others across the country of the drug’s potency and deadly effects as more and more young people continue to use it.
“My son just tried something and it took a hold of him,” Mary Elliott told CBS affiliate KHOU.
“I thought I did everything right and when this happened I asked myself, ‘What I did wrong?'” she said. “If it can just save one person, just one, and save one mother from the pain that I feel, it’s worth it.”
Elliott’s son, Jeremy Taylor, died on April 9th from complications related to a pink overdose. He was just 21-years-old.
The drug — known by experts as U-47700, or U4 — is mainly manufactured in China after being developed by the pharmaceutical company Upjohn in 1976. It was created as an alternative to morphine, but was never approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Since it wasn’t initially placed on the FDA’s schedule of illicit drugs, people have been able to get their hands on it for years. The opioid was finally added to the list of Schedule I substances in November 2016.
Because pink dealers have been flying under cops’ radar for decades, many narcotics investigators and public health officials have never encountered the drug.
“What is this? Is this bath salts?” Collins recalled wondering at the time of her son’s death.
Experts say U4 is one of the strongest opioids on the market right now.
“(The drug) is anywhere between 7 to 8 times more potent than morphine is,” Dr. Jean Cleary, the director at the Southeast Texas Poison Center, told KHOU. “Most of it comes from China.”
Records show that the FBI didn’t became aware of the pink problem until October 2015.
Just a year later, authorities recorded 46 overdose deaths — with most being reported on the East Coast.
“There’s been seven overdoses that I know of,” Elliott said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, deaths from synthetic opioids such as pink rose at a far greater rate last year than overdose deaths from heroin or prescription pain pills.
One of the drug’s most famous victim’s was Prince, who died after taking a “cocktail” of Fentanyl and U-47700.
A Portland teen named Aisha Zughbieh-Collins overdosed earlier this year after purchasing some pink off the “Dark Web” — an underground network used by dealers, pimps and other criminals trying to steer clear of authorities.
The 18-year-old’s mother found her dead in her bedroom, sitting in the lotus position, according to the Willamette Week.
“I told Aisha U4 was suicide,” her mom, Jessica Collins, explained to the local media outlet.
“You can’t choose whether you live or die. It’s like Russian roulette.”
Most of the U4 that makes it’s way into the US is said to come from Dark Web marketplaces, such as AlphaBay. Users are required to use specialized browsers, such as Tor, in order to access the sites and remain in the shadows. They also tend to pay with Bitcoin, or other virtual currencies, to remain anonymous.
Federal authorities eventually tracked Aisha’s pink purchase back to a Greenville, S.C., resident named Ted Khleborod. Portland police told the Willamette Week that he had made more than 9,550 transactions on AphaBay.
Experts say only less than 5 percent of the Internet is visible using typical browsers such as Safari, Firefox or Chrome — and that the rest is being accessed by Dark Web users.
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