(Image source from: Fentanyl pills being sold as lookalikes in Ohio)

Officials in northeast Ohio said that, some fentanyl-related overdose death during the last month, may be caused due to the unlawful sales of the powerful painkillers. The painkillers were being sold in the form of pills with the similar marking as less strong oxycodone tablets.

Thomas Gilson, Medical Examiner of the Cuyahoga County, said on Friday, that, at least 19 people were died due to fentanyl overdoses and 21 died from heroin, during  January.

The lookalike fentanyl pills are being manufactured outside the US, possibly in China and Mexico. The pills are showing up in local drug markets, for the first time, Gilson added.

Gilson said that, "this is all the more alarming because this is a much more lethal drug being dressed up as another popular drug abused by the same population."

According to the statistics, in Cuyahoga County, heroin overdoses declined by 8 percent. It was 198 in 2014, while, during the last year, the number was 183. On the other hand fentanyl overdoes increases from 37 in 2014 to 89 in 2015.

Nandini