New Form Of Drug In Grand Forks

A new form of drug on the streets of Grand Forks is suspected to have played a role in the death of an 18-year-old man.

Police are investigating the opiate, powdered fentanyl, a very dangerous drug that is often associated with heroin.

Jay Boulanger is a professor at UND.
He is one of many in the Grand Forks area who find it concerning people are using powdered fentanyl to get high.

“I think it’s really concerning that a new drug is hitting the streets here in Grand Forks or in the area,” said Boulanger of Grand Forks.
Fentanyl is used as a prescription medication, but police are now seeing it used in a powdered form.

“This is a new method, you know we haven’t really been seeing this powdered fentanyl until recently in the past it was being abused in other manners,” said Grand Forks Police Department Lt. Bill Macki.
Police suspect fentanyl is behind the recent death of 18–year-old Bailey Henke.

Many of his friends are mourning his loss on Facebook.
Some recall memories with Henke and others express their disbelief.

The drug has many unpredictable symptoms and police say that even the smallest dose can kill you.

“Very aggressive behavior, excited, excitability, possibly overheating and as they’re overheating then they start to disrobe,” said Lt. Macki.

Colin Mckinney used to live in California.
His dad is a toxicologist and he isn’t surprised of this kind of drug coming to Grand Forks.

“Honestly it’s just sort of something that happens, you know someone uses a drug and they want to abuse it, they’re probably going to find a way to do that,” said Mckinney of Grand Forks.

Grand Forks police have dealt with other overdose cases including a synthetic drug ring in 2012 that killed two teens.

Police are looking to see if some recent cases have also involved fentanyl.

“Some of the overdoses that we initially thought were possibly heroine you know might be fentanyl, likewise some that we thought might be fentanyl might have been heroine,” said Lt. Macki.

Police are still investigating where the powdered fentanyl is coming from.