Last week, the Albany County Sheriff's Office performed a traffic stop and were surprised at what they found. Thursday night, David M. Nelson of Albany was taken into custody after deputies found he was driving with a suspended license. Not only that, but after searching his car they found a decent amount of crack-cocaine in addition to a whopping 6,500 bags of fentanyl laced heroin (CBS 6 Albany).

The following day, a search warrant was served at a storage unit in Albany where Nelson had allegedly been living. It was there that local authorities seized a loaded 9mm pistol, of which had been reported as stolen in South Carolina as of 2017. In addition to the illegal firearm, 950 more bags of fentanyl-laced heroin were taken from the storage unit (Harrison Gereau, News 10).

According to Albany News 10, Nelson was charged with criminal possession of a weapon in both the second and third degree, fourth degree possession of criminal property, as well as criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree.

CBS 6 News: Albany County Sheriff's Office

Across the nation, states have seen an uptick in the amount of Fentanyl related overdoses and casualties. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid typically used to treat extreme pain, and according to the CDC, it's 50 to 100 times as strong as morphine (CDC.gov).

Rates of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone, which includes fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, increased over 56% from 2019 to 2020. -CDC.gov

It's fortunate that the Albany County Sheriff's Office was able to get these nearly 8,000 bags of heroin laced with fentanyl off the streets, but it begs the question, how many others are going undetected?