Suspected fentanyl overdoses kill at least 10 in California: health officials

Source: Reuters

Suspected fentanyl overdoses kill at least 10 in California: health officials

By Steve Gorman
April 4, 2016

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - At least 42 drug overdoses in the past two weeks have been reported in northern California, 10 of them fatal, in what authorities said on Monday marked the biggest cluster of poisonings linked to the powerful synthetic narcotic fentanyl ever to hit the U.S. West Coast.

The rash of overdoses, which Sacramento County public health authorities began to report on March 24, have been centered in and around the California capital. Nine of the fatal cases were reported there, with the tenth occurring in neighboring Yolo County.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) last year issued a nationwide alert about the dangers of fentanyl, an opioid prescribed as a pain reliever for terminally ill patients but also produced in underground labs for sale as a street drug.

Fentanyl ranks as the most potent narcotic known - 25 to 50 times stronger than heroin and 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. Even a tiny amount can be lethal, according to the DEA.


Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/suspected-fentanyl-overdoses-kill-least-10-california-health-000237030.html?nhp=1