Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office: Alleged Drug Dealer Arrested in Lafayette After Fentanyl-Laced Drugs Kill Victim

It seems like fentanyl is everywhere.

Whether it's legal drugs you can buy over the internet or illegal drugs you can buy in the streets, you never know if it's laced with the highly potent and deadly drug that has swept the nation.

As the new year began, Barrett Davidson bought some illegal narcotics in Lafayette Parish. That's according to the Vermilion Parish Sheriff's Office, who says Davidson got way more than he knew he was buying when the fentanyl the drugs were laced with ended up killing him at his home in the rural Maurice area of Vermilion Parish.

Nearly nine full months after that fateful New Year's Day, detectives were able to identify and arrest the man they believe sold Davidson the fentanyl-laced drugs - 31-year-old Daniel Joseph Duffy III. Duffy was arrested on Wednesday night by Lafayette Police on a warrant for Second-Degree Murder. He is in the process of being transferred to Vermilion Parish, where his bond will be set at $250,000.00.

Fentanyl has become a leading drug in an epidemic that takes over 100,000 lives each year, according to the CDC. The drug is often added to heroin without it being disclosed to the person buying the drug. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency outlines how dangerous fentanyl has become:

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 80-100 times stronger than morphine. Pharmaceutical fentanyl was developed for pain management treatment of cancer patients, applied in a patch on the skin. Because of its powerful opioid properties, Fentanyl is also diverted for abuse. Fentanyl is added to heroin to increase its potency, or be disguised as highly potent heroin. Many users believe that they are purchasing heroin and actually don’t know that they are purchasing fentanyl – which often results in overdose deaths. Clandestinely-produced fentanyl is primarily manufactured in Mexico.

 

In the video below, CBC News gives you a visual of how the painkiller became a public health crisis and why law enforcement officers across the country are fighting hard to get it off the streets.