Dangerous fake Xanax being sold on streets of San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A very dangerous fake drug is being sold on the streets of San Francisco. Public health officials are sending out a warning.

The counterfeit version of the anti-anxiety drug Xanax has already caused one death.

"Nerve damage, muscle breakdowns with some kidney damage, fluid in the lungs and one individual who was found dead," San Francisco Health Department's Dr. Phillip Coffin said.

Coffin is talking about four people who took fake Xanax pills late last week, which they bought on the streets of San Francisco.

Three almost died and the fourth never made it to the hospital.

"The Xanax pill is often bought on the street by those who want to come down or cool off after a night of partying or something like that," Coffin said.

What they bought instead was an extremely potent opiate called Fentanyl, masked as Xanax.

"Fentanyl is relatively new on the street scene of street drugs in San Francisco and seeing it packaged in a pill is new for us," Coffin said.

The first Fentanyl outbreak in San Francisco happened this summer. "There was a white powder being sold as heroin that was being injected and resulting in four times our usual number of overdose events," he said.

Xanax has become an increasingly popular drug among young people. Just this Thursday, half a dozen students from Pinole Valley High School had to be rushed to the hospital after they took the drug.

In this case, the Health Department confirmed the Xanax pills were real.

As for the fake Xanax, the Health Department says it's been supplying needle exchange and drug treatment clinics with supplies of Noloxone, an antidote with can combat Fentanyl.

It comes as an injectable and as a spray.