The GBI Crime lab has identified the counterfeit pills responsible for several overdoses which led to a public alert issued by the Warner Robins Police Department earlier this week. Analysis confirms the pills from Houston and Bibb counties contain cyclopropyl fentanyl. The effect of the drug on the human body is not known since it is not intended for human or veterinary uses. Seven people overdosed on the drug within 48 hours.
Cyclopropyl fentanyl had previously been identified for the first time by the lab during the June 2017 overdose outbreak in Middle Georgia, that outbreak is blamed for three deaths and 29 overdoses.
Dr. Merrill Norton is an addiction specialist in UGA’s College of Pharmacy. He addressed the dangers of counterfeit pills shortly after the first wave of overdoses.
“It creates serious respiratory depression, that’s how people die from overdoses and it’s sudden, so that’s why we’re seeing these mass overdoses,” according to Merrill. “We’ve lost close to 60,000 people. Since 2010 we’ve lost more people to opioid overdose than we lost in Vietnam.”
The Georgia Poison Center was initially alerted about similar overdoses in the Middle Georgia area and along with the Department of Public Health continues to monitor the situation. If anyone has any information pertaining to this dangerous counterfeit drug, please contact the Warner Robins Police Department at 478-302-5380 or Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 1-877-68CRIME.
