GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids police say enough fentanyl to kill hundreds of thousands of people was seized by vice detectives on Monday.
It happened at a Grandville apartment complex.
Deputy Chief Maycroft put it into perspective like this: the 500 grams of fentanyl seized was enough to kill the entire population of Grand Rapids and Grandville combined.
"Fentanyl, as we all know, is an incredibly dangerous substance. Presence in our community poses an urgent threat to public safety. We can be mixed with other drugs, quite often, with heroin, unknowingly ingested, and result in devastating overdoses," says Deputy Chief Maycroft.
A map shown at a press conference puts overdose deaths into perspective: the red dots cover the Grand Rapids map. They each mark an overdose death.
"By way of comparison, how this epidemic is affecting Grand Rapids police, specifically last year, our officers used Narcan or Naloxone for overdoses up to 40 times in the course of their duties," Maycroft said.
"Another stat is that the Grand Rapids Police Department in the last two years has responded to 180 nonfatal overdoses, and we know that is only a fraction. Those are just ones that were reported to GRPD," Maycroft said.
GRPD thanked community partners who work in the space of treating addiction.
"This is a disease that hijacks the brain and convinces the brain that it needs that additive substance to survive. When someone is trying to survive, their behavior is not always attractive. It's not always a disease known for its honesty," Rae Green, president and founder of Sanford Behavioral Health and a licensed professional counselor with a specialty in addiction, said.
GRPD Chief Winstrom was crystal clear about the impact this amount of drugs might've had.
"This was a disaster of epic proportions waiting to happen. We've had over last summer, you know, in Heartside Park, we had days where we had three, four, five individuals experiencing an overdose. I mean, this would have been an epic scale. I'm so thankful for the vice unit [for] what they did," Winstrom said.
Darrell Mitchell was arrested in response to this drug seizure. He's got a criminal history of drug trafficking, police say.
"Drugs are not a victimless crime. When someone's dealing drugs outside your neighborhood, driving violence, drugs are not a victimless crime and a loved one overdoses on fentanyl. This fentanyl epidemic that we have in this country has taken this to a whole 'nother level," Winstrom said.
Mitchell was arraigned Wednesday afternoon in Walker.
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