Tainted drugs in California kill six people in less than a week

Several others have overdosed on the bad drugs.

A tainted batch of Norco has killed six people in Sacramento. (Getty Images)

Nearly 30 people have overdosed and six people have died in less than a week in Sacramento, California after using a tainted form of a narcotic painkiller being sold on that city's streets.

A batch of the opiate Norco being sold in the California capital appears to have been laced with fentanyl, an opiate that is roughly 100 times more potent than heroin, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Sacramento County Division of Public Health reported on Tuesday that the drug has caused at least 28 overdoes and six deaths since March 23.

The county health department has conducted toxicology tests on the six people who died to confirm fentanyl was present alongside the Norco and is awaiting results.

As the United States continues to struggle with an unprecedented heroin epidemic, fentanyl has become a popular -- and extremely dangerous -- alternative.

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