Wave of overdoses crashes on Georgia

ATLANTA — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says a mixture of two synthetic opioids has been linked to mass overdoses this week in Georgia.

Tests showed one of the two drugs is a new fentanyl analogue, GBI officials said in a news release Thursday. The fentanyl analogue has not previously been identified by the GBI crime lab. Testing to confirm the full identity of the drug will take more time.

As many as four people died and 30 more were hospitalized within 48 hours as a wave of opioid overdoses swept through communities in middle Georgia, health officials said Tuesday afternoon.

More than a dozen overdose cases have been reported so far in three emergency departments in Bibb County and some surrounding counties in the past two days, said

Chris Hendry, chief medical officer at Navicent Health in Macon.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation reported Tuesday that dozens of overdoses have been reported in Macon, Centerville, Perry, Warner Robins and Albany. Some people were found unconscious and not breathing and had to be put on ventilators.

More reports are coming in and the number of deaths could rise, GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said.

“There is a new drug that’s surfaced in our community,” Hendry with Navicent said during a news conference Tuesday.

The drug, which is being sold on the streets as the pain medicine Percocet, can cause severe levels of unconsciousness and respiratory failure, Hendry said.

He warned residents not to take any medications other than those prescribed by a physician or obtained at a pharmacy.

Affected people have reported the drug as “yellow pills,” according to law enforcement.

Pills on the street are often laced with many other drugs, Miles said.

In a statement, the Georgia Department of Public Health called the substance “extremely potent.”

Public health officials also warned that while overdose reports so far have been limited to middle and south Georgia, the drugs may also be sold on the streets in other parts of the state.

A rising tide of opioid addiction has been feeding an escalating public health crisis nationally and in Georgia.

Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50.

In Georgia, they killed about 1,000 people a year between 2006 and 2014, according to a recent analysis.

The GBI, the Georgia Department of Public Health, Georgia Poison Center, hospitals, local, state, and federal partners are working jointly on the investigation.