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PORTLAND, Ore. -- Counterfeit prescription drugs being sold illegally in the Portland area contain potent substances, including heroin and Fentanyl, and have resulted in overdose deaths, police say.
The counterfeit drugs are being sold across the state of Oregon, including online, and are being illegally marketed as Xanax, Oxycodone, Alprazolam and others. Police have found counterfeit Oxycodone tablet cases containing heroin, Furanyl fentanyl, Tramadol, Aprazolam and other substances.
Fentanyl and other opioid analogues have caused accidental overdose deaths around the state, police say.
"Fentanyl is an extremely powerful synthetic opioid similar to morphine, but it crosses the blood-brain barrier faster than more commonly encountered opioids and can be 100 to 10,000 times more potent than morphine or heroin," said the Portland Police Bureau's Drugs and Vice Division in a press release.
Eighty people have died in accidental overdoses from synthetic opioids since 2014. Deaths are on the rise, according to the state medical examiner.
Cases in Portland
