Georgia investigating
spate of opioid painkiller overdoses
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[June 07, 2017] By
Bernie Woodall
(Reuters) - Dozens of drug overdoses,
including four fatal ones, in a two-day period in Georgia appear to be
linked to potentially lethal substances in opioid painkillers sold on
the street, state public health and law enforcement officials said on
Tuesday.
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Five of the overdoses - but none of the deaths - were among people
living in the same household in Bibb County, which includes the city
of Macon, Gaylord Lopez, director of the nonprofit Georgia Poison
Center, said by phone on Tuesday evening. The victims ranged in age
from 20s to early 60s, he said.
The Georgia Department of Public Health said Tuesday that emergency
responders in the central and southern parts of the state treated
dozens of people over a 48-hour period. Some patients were
unconscious or had stopped breathing and many had to be placed on
ventilators.
"Patients reportedly purchased yellow pills alleged to be Percocet,
an opioid pain medication," the health department said in a
statement.
Percocet is a brand-name drug that contains the opioid painkiller
oxycodone and the analgesic pain reliever acetaminophen.
"There are presumptively now four deaths connected to this but this
has not been confirmed with lab testing," said Nelly Miles,
spokeswoman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Lopez said the likely ingredients to the fake prescription pills
included heroin and the more powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl,
based on the effects of the pills. State officials said they would
await lab tests before talking about the likely ingredients.
The health department said tests were being conducted to confirm the
link between the counterfeit pills and the overdoses.
The highest concentration of overdoses occurred in or near Macon,
Warner Robins, Centerville, Perry and Albany, the health department
said.
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"We're afraid that this may be more widespread," Lopez said.
The abuse of opioids - a class of drugs that includes heroin and
prescription painkillers - has assumed epidemic proportions in the
United States.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that in
2015, about 33,000, or 91 Americans a day, died from opioid
overdosed.
In Europe, drug overdose deaths rose 6 percent to 8,441 in 2015,
rising for the third straight year, driven by the increasing use of
opioids like fentanyl, Europe's Lisbon-based drug monitoring agency
said on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Bill
Trott)
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