The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning states about an uptick in the availability of counterfeit painkillers. These drugs are contributing to the ongoing opioid addiction and overdose epidemic.
The pills are labeled as OxyCodone or Xanax, for example, but could contain varying amounts of a much stronger opioid painkiller called fentanyl. These are illicit drugs, sold outside of pharmacies.
And in heroin, some states are reporting the presence of carfentanil. That’s a deadly tranquilizer used primarily in large animals, like elephants, and it’s not approved for use in humans.
Users may not be aware of the presence of these added compounds. And that increases the risk of a fatal overdose dramatically.
More than 150 people have died in Rhode Island of accidental drug overdoses so far this year, according to the state’s health department. Most of those deaths involved fentanyl.
Track Rhode Island’s progress battling the opioid overdose epidemic here.