Fake Oxycontin Pills Widespread and Potentially Deadly: Report
Last Updated: Friday September 13, 2024
(HealthDay News) The rate at which young Americans are ending up in hospital ICUs after using fake Oxycontin pills spiked with fentanyl is soaring, especially in the U.S. West, a new report warns.
Medical toxicology data from one unnamed hospital in the western U.S. found the number of cases involving overdoses involving fake "M-30" Oxycontin pills rose from just three in 2017 to 209 during 2022, according to a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Most patients (81%) required hospital care and more than two-thirds of those patients spent time in the ICU. Two patients died while hospitalized, the report found.