Little Rock police said Monday that one man died and another was hospitalized after they were found unconscious along a city street from an apparent overdose of a drug extracted from a prescription pain patch.
Charles Jackson, 22, of White Hall, was pronounced dead Friday morning, shortly after he and Jake Forrest, 28, of Rector, were found unresponsive along Bowman Road south of 12th Street in west Little Rock.
Forrest had a prescription for the fentanyl patch, also known under brand names such as Duragesic. Forrest told investigators that he and Jackson removed the gel from the patch and ingested it.
"Bad situation," Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings said. "Don't do that."
Hastings said autopsy results were pending on Jackson and charges have not been filed, though the investigation is continuing.
"This guy (Forrest) had a prescription; he did not have the patch illegally. Giving his friend some may be illegal," Hastings said.
Hastings said Forrest told investigators that he took the fentanyl with the drug hydromorphone, also sold as Dilaudid.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse says fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine and poses a risk of killing people who abuse it. The institute said people who abuse fentanyl by mixing it with other drugs are at particular risk of overdose.
The Food and Drug Administration earlier issued a warning on the dangers of the drug. The synthetic opiate is often prescribed for cancer patients whose pain can't be controlled by oxycodone or other powerful opiates.
Last year, one maker of the transdermal patches issued a recall because gel could leak from the patch, which could have led to a fatal overdose.
The FDA said some doctors have "inappropriately" prescribed the fentanyl patch for post-surgical pain, headaches, mild pain and other symptoms that don't warrant use of the patch. The agency says patients who use more than one patch at a time, replace the patch more frequently than prescribed or apply heat to it risk fatally depressing their breathing.
Hastings said Little Rock police rarely see a fentanyl abuse case.
Forrest had been in stable condition at Baptist Hospital in Little Rock, police said. A hospital spokeswoman Monday said she could not provide information on Forrest.
Hastings said he did not know what health condition prompted the fentanyl prescription for Forrest.