VALDOSTA – This week, four people are dead and dozens of others have been sent to emergency rooms across South Georgia for drug overdoses.
State health officials say street drugs could be to blame.
The outbreak has been seen in several central and south Georgia towns, including Albany.
Dealers are selling yellow pills and claiming they are Percocet, but laced with something else.
Victims have suffered respiratory failure and passed out.
“They’re out there selling poison to our community for nothing more than pure greed,” says Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress.
The scare has local law enforcement on high alert.
Valdosta Police Department says they see similar drugs being sold on the street.
Sheila Williams, VPD evidence custodian says, “It’s eye-opening to see so many items laced with drugs.”
“It’s a dangerous game you’re playing when you use these street drugs and that’s what seems to be happening. People are buying these drugs on the street and they’re poisonous. I would describe all drugs you buy off the street poison. You never know what you’re getting,” says Chief Childress.
VPD says the drugs can still easily travel, so they’re on the lookout and preparing for the worst.
State authorities are still trying to figure out the pills’ exact ingredients.
A Georgia Bureau of Investigation study shows more than 450 counterfeit pills confiscated in the past two years.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the rate of drug overdose related deaths nearly tripled in the last 20 years across the country.
