By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
Officers with the Carter County Sheriff’s Department made an arrest the weekend before Christmas that took five and a half pounds of methamphetamine and an ounce of fentanyl off the street before they could be distributed.
According to a release from the office of Carter County Sheriff Jeff May, the arrest was the result of an ongoing narcotics investigation by his office. May stated that information obtained as part of that investigation, “led to a search which recovered a substantial amount of narcotics before they could be distributed in our communities.”
During the stop, May explained, the department’s K9, Rambo, alerted on the vehicle, resulting in the seizure of the narcotics, and the arrest of 35 year old Dominique Barron. According to a release from the sheriff’s office, Barron is from Detroit, Michigan. His information with the Carter County Detention Center, however, lists a home address of Riverview, Florida.
While the number of doses taken off the street isn’t exactly clear, the 28 grams of fentanyl seized would be enough to kill 14,000 people based on DEA data that lists two milligrams of the drug as a lethal dose for most adults. Clinical dosages for fentanyl are measured in micrograms – there are one thousand micrograms in a single milligram – with pharmaceutical grade tablets starting at 100 micrograms and rarely exceeding 800 micrograms. Ampoules for injection begin at 50 micrograms/mL.
Methamphetamine is generally sold in small quantities as well – though not as small as fentanyl – meaning the five and a half pounds of meth seized could have been split into more than 700 “eight balls” weighing one eighth of an ounce, or 3.5 grams, each. You can be charged with trafficking in methamphetamine in Kentucky for amounts as low as two grams or less, with two grams or more qualifying as a first degree offense and a Class C felony.
In addition to two charges of trafficking in a controlled substance – one for fentanyl and one for two or more grams of methamphetamine – listed in the release from the sheriff’s office, the arrest information listed on the Carter County Detention Center web page includes an additional charge of possession of marijuana.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
