The consumption of a white substance linked to 12 people needing medical attention or hospitalisation in Wairarapa over the weekend has been identified as fentanyl, preliminary test results have confirmed.
The powder was being sold as methamphetamine and cocaine, the drug information website High Alert said.
"Those hospitalised displayed the same symptoms as an opioid overdose, and all responded well to naloxone – a drug that reverses an opioid overdose."
An analysis by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited (ESR) on Tuesday also indicated the sample tested contained the presence of mannitol or a similar sugar-type substance.
READ MORE: Fentanyl overdoses - 12 hospitalised in Wairarapa
"While these results are still preliminary, it's important that we now know exactly what we're dealing with," Detective Inspector Blair Macdonald said on Tuesday in a statement.
Sarah Helm wants naloxone, a medicine which rapidly reverses an opioid overdose, available in New Zealand. (Source: Breakfast)
Macdonald said the drug was "cut or diluted by this sugar-type substance".
READ MORE: 'Miracle' no-one died after Wairarapa fentanyl overdoses
Further sample tests related to the Wairarapa hospitalisations are ongoing.
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