No Pills or Needles, Just Paper: How Deadly Drugs Are Changing - The New York Times

Lab-made drugs soaked into the pages of letters, books and even legal documents are being smuggled behind bars, killing inmates and frustrating investigators. THE NEW DRUG WAR Lab-made drugs soaked into the pages of letters, books and even legal documents are being smuggled behind bars, killing inmates and frustrating investigators. At the Cook County jail, inmates have been killed by a new generation of ultra-potent, hard-to-detect drugs. Credit... Supported by By Azam Ahmed and Matt Richtel Visuals by Meridith Kohut The reporters spent more than a year following the deaths at the Cook County jail, conducting more than 100 interviews and reviewing dozens of studies, forensic reports and other documents on the rise of hazardous new synthetic drugs. The body lay slumped on the jail floor, curled around a metal toilet. Investigators found no evidence of homicide, just a few scraps of rolled-up paper, singed and scattered on the floor like scorched confetti. For months, inmates had been f

Lab-made drugs soaked into the pages of letters, books and even legal documents are being smuggled behind bars, killing inmates and frustrating investigators. THE NEW DRUG WAR Lab-made drugs soaked into the pages of letters, books and even legal documents are being smuggled behind bars, killing inmates and frustrating investigators. At the Cook County jail, inmates have been killed by a new generation of ultra-potent, hard-to-detect drugs. Credit... Supported by By Azam Ahmed and Matt Richtel Visuals by Meridith Kohut The reporters spent more than a year following the deaths at the Cook County