A drug said to be 100 times more potent than heroin has caused over 40 overdoses and at least 10 deaths in a period of 12 days in the Sacramento area.
Health officials warn people to care about the counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate usually prescribed to cancer patients and to treat chronic pain. The deadly drug is sold in the street while Norco, less powerful opiate, is from $ 3 To $ 5 a pill. Natasha Butler said her son, 28, Jerome, died recently after buying the drug from someone who thought it was Norco.
Jerome Butler picture with her 3 children
“He closed his organs. He closed his kidneys. He closes his liver. His brain was swollen. The doctor said he said there was nothing he could do for him. One pill, “said Butler.
According to the DEA agent, John Martin, the drug is transported smuggled to the United States from China and Mexico. “We believe it is made in China, it is distributed in Mexico, he was raised through the normal channels of drug trafficking in the southwest border,” said Martin.
The drug is also mixed with heroin to increase its power and sometimes it is sometimes sold as heroin, which users are most likely to die from drugs.
The number of people in the Sacramento County who became ill after overdosing on pills disguised fentanyl rose to 48, according to the health department.
Of the 48 people sick, nine people died in Sacramento County and one person died in Yolo County, said the Ministry of Health and Social Services Sacramento. Although there were no deaths in the San Joaquin County, four people were overdosed on pills disguised.
An equal number of men and women, ages 16 to 67, overdosed on fentanyl counterfeit pills, said the department.
Initial reports came on 24 March to inform overdoses related to what was thought to be of Norco pills bought on the street. However, it was later discovered that the pills were actually known as an opioid fentanyl name to resemble Norcotable, according to toxicology reports.
Fentanyl is estimated to be 80 times more potent than morphine and hundreds of times more potent than heroin