These might look like prescription drugs, but they’re actually lethal poison, according to Georgia authorities

These small yellow pills from the pharmacy might look like prescription drugs, but Georgia authorities say they are far from that, as the Washington Post reports.

These pills can be purchased on the street. They have caused dozens of overdoses and four deaths in the south and central Georgia, according to what state health officials told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Amidst a growing opioid crisis, the number of overdoses increased and the authorities are struggling to keep pace. “We try to warn the public, but people are still buying these counterfeit pills off the street thinking they’re legitimate preparations, but they are not,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles told The Washington Post. “It may be marked as something legitimate, but — chances are — it’s not.”

In a Georgia Department of Public Health statement, authorities said that patients thought they were purchasing Percocet, an opioid pain medication. The yellow pills contain a substance that is “extremely potent”, but the investigators are yet to identify it. “First responders say patients are unconscious or unresponsive and have difficulty breathing or have stopped breathing,” the statement said. “Many patients need to be placed on ventilators.” The substance’s effects were counteracted with “massive doses of naloxone (Narcan)”.

It is of paramount importance to identify what the yellow pills contain exactly, according to Nelly Miles. “We are assisting with testing with the evidence that could potentially be related to the outbreak,” she said. “Law enforcement is working around the clock. “They received some pills today and completing the testing is a priority.”

The counterfeit pills “have the numbers 10/325 on one side and the word PERCOCET in all capital letters on the opposite side,” according to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.

Opioids are typically given to patients seeking relief from extreme pain resulted from an accident or a surgery, as the Georgia Prevention Project reports. When taking them, people feel pleased and even euphoric. The drugs can lead to “physical dependence, respiratory depression, euphoria, reduced intestinal motility and other desired and undesired effects,” according to the group.

In the United States, opioids are really popular. Despite the US being home to 5% of the world’s population, the opiod consumption there reaches “an overwhelming percentage of the world’s prescription pain medication”, according to Chuck Rosenberg. In 2015, opioids killed over 33,000 people in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2016, that number might’ve topped 59,000, according to a New York Times report.

“The individuals that are involved in the drug trade, this may be their newest product,” Sheriff David Davis of Bibb County told CNN. “We need to know who’s putting this poison in the community right now.”