Fear is spreading that methamphetamine laced with a poisonous substance is harming and killing people in Birmingham who inject the drug.

“They are not overdosing in a way that someone would if fentanyl was mixed into the supply, so testing strips may not help in this situation,” the Recovery Resource Center posted on Facebook.

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office said they have heard the concerns of the RRC and UAB and are investigating five suspected overdoses from Saturday through Tuesday.

“But, this does not constitute a significant increase considering our history of overdose fatalities. Autopsies performed in each case did not provide any evidence at this time to confirm or dismiss the concerns,” the coroner’s office reported.

It will be approximately four to six weeks before the coroner’s office will be able to report its findings in those deaths.

Dani Sims, assistant director of the Recovery Resource Center, said they have received reports of two people dying and four ending up in intensive care since Saturday as a result of the drug.

One was a person who only uses meth and injected the drug in George Ward Park, Sims said.

The drug is said to be brown and come in rock form and is being injected, Sims said. Drug users are urged to avoid any meth that comes in brown rock form.

Sims said one person reported that the sensation of injecting the drug “was like fire going through his body.”

That feeling is followed, Sims said, by what she called “trash fever” — chills, intestinal distress, “intense pain; things that make you feel like you are going to die.”

Sims said it is speculated that the meth is being cut with some deadly substance.

“It’s unusual,” Sims said. “Usually, the additives are filler — baby powder — things that aren’t going to harm people.”

Sims said intravenous drug users should only use with someone else present or while on the phone with the Never Use Alone hotline at 877-696-1996.

The 24/7 hotline will stay on the line with someone while they inject a drug and call emergency services if the person using the drug has an adverse reaction.

The concern over the drug can also serve as a reason for people struggling with addiction to seek help, Sims said.

“This is a better time than any to get help,” Sims said. “This is fatal.”