Authorities seized thousands of pills containing fentanyl, a deadly compound that officials say is causing an increase in overdoses, and arrested a 31-year-old man after an investigation into a drug operation in Albany, according to the sheriff of Livingston Parish Jason Ard.
In a statement, Ard said deputies arrested Devonte Skinner after a drug investigation that spanned “several months.” Skinner was booked into the Livingston Parish Detention Center Tuesday night on multiple drug-related charges, online booking records show.
Through the investigation, officers were led to a house on Drake Road, where they found the following items:
— 2.4 pounds of fentanyl (~ 4200 lethal doses)
— 3,700 dosage units of pressed fentanyl tablets
— Methamphetamine
— Marijuana
— Liquid promethazine
— Alprazolam
— $1,645 in US currency
Ard said the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office assisted in the investigation, which is ongoing.
“This case took teamwork, patience, time and effort,” Ard said. “These types of cases happen all the time. But please know that our LPSO narcotics officers are following your tips to get illegal and potentially deadly drugs off our streets.”
Albany’s drug crisis marks the latest case involving fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) says it is “100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin.”
The DEA says it can be injected, snorted/snorted, smoked, taken orally in a pill or tablet, and put on blotting paper.
Similar to other commonly used opioid analgesics, such as morphine, it produces effects such as relaxation, euphoria, pain relief, sedation, confusion, drowsiness, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, urinary retention, pupillary constriction, and respiratory depression.
Authorities have warned the public several times over the past year about the potentially “deadly” effects of fentanyl, which Ard previously said was detected in multiple overdoses in Livingston Parish.
“We all read the headlines about fentanyl,” Ard said after a failure in January. “Even in small amounts, fentanyl is considered potentially deadly. Also, we have people mixing it with other drugs to make it even more potent. We hope more of you will continue to come forward with information so our narcotics officers can investigate and hopefully remove more from our streets.”
