It will take more time to determine exactly what was in the yellow, oval pills blamed on numerous overdoses in central Georgia. But preliminary tests showed the presence of two synthetic opioids, including a version of fentanyl, the GBI said Thursday.
At least four people have died and 30 have been hospitalized in the Macon area and in Albany after taking pills that look like Percocet, according to state officials. Investigators have not yet identified who sold the pills.
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A new Georgia law that took effect in April gives law enforcement more latitude for bring drug charges even when the components have been tweaked even just slightly. Under federal law, the definitions of what makes a drug illegal is strict and difficult to change. But the new law says fentanyl, as well as some of the new drugs on the streets, remain illegal even when the components are altered.
It’s a problem law enforcement has faced for years where illicit drug-makers try to get around the law by just changing one component in a drug so that it no longer meets the definition that makes it illegal. The new Georgia law is expected to stop that.
The fentanyl analogue found in the pills has not previously been identified by the GBI Crime Lab, according to Nelly Miles, a spokeswoman for the agency.
In the latest overdoses, the counterfeit pills have the numbers 10/325 on one side and the word PERCOCET in all capital letters on the opposite side, according to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office. But the word “PERCOCET” isn’t stamped as deep as the real manufacturer and it’s at an angle.
In Bibb County, 11 overdose cases have been reported, resulting in two deaths, Coroner Leon Jones said Wednesday.
After his sister took a pill, Gregory Mitchell also took one late Monday, Jones said. His sister was admitted to the hospital and should recover. Mitchell, 52, called 911 when he started feeling bad, but went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance and later died at the hospital, Jones said. The death of Amirrah Gillens, 36, is also being attributed to the yellow pill, he said.
Monroe County Sheriff John Cary Bittick said the death of a 21-year-old man there on Sunday may also be due to the street drugs.
The GBI plans additional testing on the yellow pills to determine the contents, Miles said. The GBI, Georgia Department of Public Health, Georgia Poison Center, hospitals, and local, state and federal partners are working jointly on the investigation.
