A sixth person has died in Sacramento County as a result of ingesting pills made to look like a prescription painkiller, health officials confirmed Tuesday. 
 
 A total of 28 cases of people becoming sick from the street-bought drug have been reported, including the six people who have died, according to the Sacramento County Division of Public Health. 
 
 UPDATE (March 31): A seventh person has died due to ingesting the street-bought painkiller. Read more here. 
 
 “I've never seen a substance like this,” said Jon Daily, founder of Recovery Happens and an addiction specialist with more than 20 years experience. “Fentanyl is eight times stronger than heroin or 800 percent stronger than heroin, it's a very potent substance.” 
 
 Initial reports that came in Thursday said people overdosed on street Norco pills -- a prescription painkiller made of hydrocodone and acetaminophen -- laced with fentanyl, which is estimated to be 80 times as potent as morphine and hundreds of times more potent than heroin. 
 
 “It is not fentanyl-laced Norco because they haven't found any acetaminophen, which would be in Norco,” Daily said. 
 
 Toxicology reports Tuesday show the pills are actually fentanyl pills made to look like Norco tablets. The health department said the test results showed signs of hydrocodone and acetaminophen. 
 
 “It concerns me because it's part of a distribution network of drug dealing going on in our community,” Daily said. “There's probably more to come.” 
 
 Show Transcript Hide Transcript BRIAN: A DEADLY COCKTAIL SOLD ON SACRAMENTO COUNTY STREETS. NOW AN UNPRECEDENTED SPIKE IN OVERDOSE >> IT'S HARD WITH THE PUNCH. 20 PEOPLE HAVE ENDED UP IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM SO FAR. FIVE HAVE DIED EDIE: AND INVESTIGATORS ARE BLAMING A TAINTED PAINKILLER. KCRA'S VICKI GONZALEZ IS LIVE A UC DAVIS MEDICAL CENTER WITH THE INFORMATION ALARMING HEALT PROFESSIONALS. FOURTEEN OF THE 20 CASES ARE BEING TREATED AT UC DAVIS MEDICAL CENTER THE PRESCIPTION DRUG NORCO, ALONG WITH VICOD OR OXYCOTIN, IS COMMONLY SOLD ON THE STREETS FOR JUST DOLLARS A PILL BUT IT'S WHAT NORCO IS LACED WITH THAT CAUSING THE DRAMATIC SURGE IN OVERDOSES A KNOCKOFF PAINKILLER IS TAKIN LIVES IN SACRAMENTO COUNTY. IT JUST SHOWED UP WITHIN 2 HOURS, 48 HOURS, YOU KNOW THAT MANY PEOPLE OVER DOSING? FIVE NOW DEAD, 15 HOSPITALIZED IT'S VERY SCARY JON DAILY IS THE FOUDER OF THE DRUG ABUSE CENTER RECOVE HAPPENS. AND HAS SEEN A RISE IN ABUSE OF THE EXCEPTIONALLY STRONG OPIOI FENTANYL. IT COMES IN AND HITS HARD WITH A PUNCH RIGHT AWAY, AND VE INTENSELY. THAN HEROIN PEOPLE INCREASINGLY WANT A STRONGER DOSE OVER TIME AND THAT'S WHY THE APPEAL WOULD B THERE. HOWEVER SACRAMENTO COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH SAYS A NEW STREET-MARKE PILL MIXING FENTANYL WITH THE PRESCRIPTION NORCO HAS RESULTE IN 20 OVERDOSES OVER 4 DAY I'VE NEVER SEEN IT IN MY CAREER. WITH ANY SUBSTANCE. PATIENTS RANGE IN AGE FR MID-20'S TO 50'S. OUR HOPE IS THAT IT WILL STO BECAUSE I THINK IT IS VE WORRISOME WHEN YOU HEAR THE STORIES OF PEOPLE TAKING ONE OR TWO PILLS AND SUDDENLY THEY COLLAPSE HEALTH EXPERTS NOW HOPE THE SUDDEN SPIKE DOESN'T BECOME A DANGEROUS TREND. THERE'S MORE QUESTIONS THA THERE ARE ANSWERS AT THIS POIN >> HEALTH OFFICIALS SAY TO CAL 911 UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE BECAUSE INDIVIDUALS CAN RECOVER INITIALLY, AND THEN RELAPS BRIAN: WHY WOULD A DRUG COCKTAIL THIS LETHAL BE MAD CLARK'S IT'S STILL NOT CLEAR IF PATIENTS KNEW THE NORCO PILLS WERE LACED FENTANYL OR EVEN IF 
 
 The patients range in age from the mid-20s to 50s, according to Sacramento County Public Health Officer Dr. OIivia Kasirye. 
 
 The health department is awaiting the results of blood work for more answers. 
 
 "Our hope is that it will stop because I think it is very worrisome when you hear the stories of people taking one or two pills and suddenly they collapse,” Kasirye said. 
 
 “I'm confident the people will get arrested. The bigger picture is how to prevent the next crisis,” Daily said. “Drugs are not something to be played around with.” 
 
 KCRA 3's Natalie Brunell contributed to this story. ||||| It’s a case of mistaken identity that’s landing people in the emergency room. 
 
 According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released this Tuesday, at least seven San Francisco Bay Area residents have sought medical help in the past month after having taken illicitly bought counterfeit painkillers. Though the hapless customers thought they were taking a moderately strong prescription opioid medication known as Norco, they actually ingested fentanyl — an opioid 80 times more potent than even morphine. The outbreak, which lasted for two weeks from March 25 to April 5, followed an even larger rash of fentanyl poisonings in nearby Sacramento County that began March 23. These cases, 12 in total, were also tied to fake Norco pills. 
 
 “The distribution of counterfeit medications, especially those containing fentanyl, is an emerging and serious public health threat,” the authors wrote. “Opioid abuse is the fastest-growing drug problem in the United States; despite prevention strategies at federal, state, and local levels, deaths caused by ingestion of opioid analgesics continue.” 
 
 Fentanyl is among the most powerful opioids available, often only legally used to treat people with severe pain or who have become tolerant to other narcotics — the synthetic drug normally can’t be even taken orally. In recent years, however, black market drug producers have used fentanyl as a discreet replacement or additive for heroin and other illicit drugs. Due to its higher potency, however, it’s much easier to overdose on, sometimes fatally. According to the authors, there were at least 1,000 fentanyl-related deaths in the United States between 2005 to 2007, and an outbreak of fentanyl-laced counterfeit Xanax led to the deaths of two people this past winter. 
 
 While all the patients this time around recovered within 24 hours, one victim required CPR and emergency services after she became dizzy and unresponsive. She stayed overnight at a hospital with repeated bouts of vomiting, nausea, and shallow breathing and was released 32 hours later. Her boyfriend had earlier visited the emergency department after his own adverse reaction to the counterfeit drugs, which he claimed he had bought from a friend. 
 
 Photo By California Poison Control System, San Francisco Division 
 
 Thanks to the sixth patient, health officials were able to obtain and test a sample of the drugs. Worryingly, they were the exact physical replica of a typical Norco pill, which contains a combination of the opioid hydrocodone and acetaminophen. They also contained a drug never before seen in these fentanyl fakes, promethazine. While normally used to treat nausea, vomiting, and motion sickness, promethazine is also believed to further increase the high when taken with an opioid. 
 
 As of yet, there’s been no luck in tracking down the source of the counterfeit drugs, though an investigation is ongoing. The authors recommend that physicians stay on the lookout for particularly nasty cases of acute opioid overdose, as that might indicate the presence of fentanyl. 
 
 “Efforts should also be made to communicate to the general public the significant risks to life and health when purchasing what appears to be prescription medications from any source other than a reputable pharmacy or health care provider, because it might be difficult to distinguish a counterfeit pill from the legitimate pharmaceutical product,” they concluded. 
 
 Source: Vo K, van Wijk X, Lynch K, et al.Counterfeit Norco Poisoning Outbreak — San Francisco Bay Area, California, March 25–April 5, 2016. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2016. ||||| CINCINNATI -- Predictions from Hamilton County officials have come true -- dangerous large animal tranquilizers mixed with heroin has made its way to the Tri-State. 
 
 A substance found during a recent drug seizure contained a mixture of heroin, fentanyl and the elephant tranquilizer Carfentanil, the Hamilton County Coroner's Office confirmed Friday. The substance -- a light pink color -- was taken by RENU agents when it was discovered during a traffic stop on I-75 near Mitchell Avenue. 
 
 Police said 27-year-old Kendall Cunningham was pulled over last Friday and was driving under a suspended license. Officers smelled marijuana and searched the car, where they found marijuana, cocaine and the pink substance, later determined to be the heroin-fentanyl-Carfentanil mixture. 
 
 Cunningham, of Cincinnati, and his passenger, 21-year-old Malik Bowman of Forest Park, were arrested and charged with drug abuse and trafficking, according to the Sheriff's office. 
 
 The heroin mixture was "relatively small" at 28 grams, the sheriff's office said. 
 
 RELATED: Officials say a dose of Narcan isn't enough anymore 
 
 Cincinnati-area hospital emergency rooms handled 174 drug overdoses between Aug. 19 and Aug. 24, and rescuers responded to more 70 overdoses in just Tuesday and Wednesday. During that time, three people died of overdoses. 
 
 WATCH our report on that week's deadly outbreak of overdoses: 
 
 The Hamilton County Heroin Task Force said a Carfentinal mix was likely the culprit behind so many overdoses. 
 
 "These people are intentionally putting in drugs they know can kill someone," said Newtown police Chief Tom Synan, head of the task force. "The benefit for them is if the user survives it is such a a powerful high for them, they tend to come back ... If one or two people dies, they could care less. They know the supply is so big right now that if you lose some customers in their eyes there's always more in line."
– Seven people have died—and nearly two dozen others have been hospitalized—in California's Sacramento County after overdosing on fentanyl, reports CBS Sacramento. Fentanyl is a painkiller much stronger than morphine and can produce a euphoric high, reports the Los Angeles Times. According to the Sacramento Bee, it's been causing deaths on the East Coast, but this appears to be its first appearance in Northern California. "We hoped it would never come here," one San Francisco-based DEA agent says. "But it was only a matter of time." Fentanyl is often disguised as other drugs, and the California victims likely thought they were taking the prescription painkiller Norco, KCRA reports. The federal government is calling fentanyl a "serious health threat," and the DEA is investigating the overdoses in Sacramento County. "I've never seen a substance like this,” an addiction specialist of 20 years tells KCRA. Fentanyl can be fatal within minutes, and the victims—who were in their 20s through 50s and purchased it on the street—may never have known they were taking it. "It is very worrisome when you hear the stories of people taking one or two pills and suddenly they collapse,” a public health officer tells KCRA. (Heroin laced with fentanyl was believed to be responsible for 74 overdoses in 72 hours last October in Chicago.)