Pubdate: Thu, 31 Mar 2016
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2016 The New York Times Company
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Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Christopher Mele

CALIFORNIA: WAVE OF OVERDOSES FROM A DISGUISED DRUG

A powerful synthetic drug that is being disguised and illegally sold 
as a prescription painkiller has caused six deaths and 22 overdoses 
in Sacramento County, Calif., in less than a week, an official said.

The episodes, which were reported starting March 24, have been 
scattered throughout the county of 1.5 million people, said the 
official, Laura McCasland, a spokeswoman for the Sacramento County 
Department of Health and Human Services.

The victims took what they believed to be Norco, a prescription drug 
made up of acetaminophen and hydrocodone that is used to treat pain.

"In reality, they're taking fentanyl, which is much, much, much more 
potent," Ms. McCasland said.

Fentanyl is a painkiller that is up to 50 times more powerful than 
heroin and up to 100 times more potent than morphine. A small amount 
can be deadly.

In the Sacramento County cases, fentanyl was being produced that was 
similar in appearance to Norco, Ms. McCasland said. Some overdose 
survivors said they bought the pills from strangers, and others said 
that they got them from neighbors and friends, health officials said.

The cases recorded in Sacramento County are part of a wider drug 
epidemic that has been fueled by prescription painkillers.

John J. Martin, the special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement 
Administration's San Francisco field division, said officials 
nationally were seeing a rise in seizures of fentanyl, which is being 
produced in China and shipped to Mexico. He said the large number of 
deaths and overdoses attributed to fentanyl in Sacramento County were 
a first for his office, which covers 48 California counties.

The people who overdosed in Sacramento County were evenly divided 
between men and women, and ranged from 24 to 59 years old, Ms. McCasland said.
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