Sheriff’s Office warns of fentanyllaced drugs
A young Calaveras County man died in October after taking a pill laced with the deadly drug fentanyl that was disguised to look like legitimate prescription pain medication, the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office said.
The man’s death prompted the Sheriff’s Office to issue a public safety announcement on Monday warning about the dangers of bootleg pills and how to identify it from real medication.
“Often disguised as other legitimate drugs, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid which is significantly more powerful than morphine and primarily sold through the illegal market,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
Medics and law enforcement responded to a residence in an unspecified Calaveras County town on an undisclosed date in October for a call about a man, who was identified in the release as a “young male adult,” who had lost consciousness and was not breathing after consuming a pill that looked like legitimate pain medication, the announcement said.
Sheriff’s deputies reportedly were the first to arrive at the residence and were unable to revive the man despite administering both CPR and Narcan, also known as naloxone, a medication used to treat suspected opioid overdoses, the announcement said.
Detectives from the Sheriff’s Office investigated the scene and seized a pill that was reported to be from the same sources as one consumed by the deceased man, which the announcement said tested positive for containing fentanyl.
The announcement said fentanyl can be produced or inserted into “virtually any composition,” and is commonly created to resemble legitimate prescription opioids, such as oxycodone, also known by the brand name Oxycontin.
As little as two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
In August, a Calaveras County Sheriff’s jail deputy began to display symptoms of a possible opioid overdose after being exposed to a powder form of fentanyl in the cell of a 37-year-old woman who was accidentally overdosing after allegedly smuggling in the drug.
Both the female inmate and jail deputy were reportedly given multiple emergency doses of Narcan nasal spray, but remained in medical distress and were rushed to the emergency room at Mark Twain Medical Center in San Andreas for treatment.
The deputy was released from the hospital after being treated and expected to make a full recovery, while the woman also survived and was booked back into jail with additional felony charges that included smuggling a drug into a jail and assault on a correctional officer by means likely to cause great bodily harm.
Similar scenes of law enforcement officers suffering from overdoses after being exposed to small amounts of fentanyl have occurred throughout the United States in recent years and been captured in viral online videos.
In Monday’s announcement, the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office urged the public to use caution and not consume any pills unless they are prescribed by a trusted medical professional and dispensed by a licensed pharmacist.
Additional information on counterfeit pills and fentanyl can be found at https://www.dea.gov/ onepill and https://www. dea. gov/ resources/ factsabout-fentanyl.