Given the task definition and input, reply with output. In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.

Police officers are passing out fliers informing drug users on Skid Row about the dangers of the synthetic drug Spice in the wake of two mass illness breakouts that prompted county health officials Tuesday to warn all residents against using the illicit drug. 
  
 The drug is believed to be linked to incidents on Monday, when more than 20 people became ill on Skid Row, and last Friday, when nearly 50 people were sickened, according to Los Angeles Police Department’s Central Station. 
  
 Emergency crews examined 22 people Monday, initially responding to the 400 block of East Fifth Street after several people complained of feeling ill. At least 14 of them were transported for hospital treatment. 
  
 On Friday, nearly 50 people were evaluated after reporting feeling ill with drug-induced symptoms. 
  
 Investigators believe the newest version of the drug contains chemicals that make it more addictive, according to a Central Station watch commander, Sgt. F. Carrillo. 
  
 The spike in the use of Spice in that area also can be attributed to the drug’s low cost and availability, Carrillo said. 
  
 The Department of Public Health said the synthetic cannabinoid drug can cause severe side effects, including altered mental status, loss of consciousness, extreme anxiety, agitation, high blood pressure, heart arrhythmias, nausea/vomiting, seizures and death. 
  
 Other street names for the drug include Sexy Monkey, Black Mamba and Twilight, according to DPH. 
  
 Spice and other synthetic cannabinoids are created by spraying psychoactive chemicals onto plant material, which is then smoked or ingested. 
  
 However, DPH officials acknowledged that not much is known about what goes into making Spice and agreed that the latest illnesses may be due to someone mixing other toxic substances into the already dangerous drug. 
  
 In April, about 10 people, including a police bicycle officer, were sickened within a 24-hour span in the area of San Pedro and Fifth streets — not far from the latest two incidents — by an unknown substance or intoxicant. The bicycle officer was not a drug user but was sickened by fumes, likely some kind of aerosol spray mixture of the drug, police said. 
  
 At the time, officers assigned to the area spread the word that it appeared a drug being circulated was making people sick, but authorities didn’t figure out what caused the illnesses and no one was arrested. 
  
 —City News Service 
  
 >> Want to read more stories like this? Get our Free Daily Newsletters Here! ||||| #BREAKINGNEWS Several reportedly ill from unknown drug in homeless area at 200 blk E 5th St in DTLA, officials say pic.twitter.com/jdMrqEwSTk — ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) August 19, 2016 
  
 Paramedics rushed to Skid Row after 18 people appeared to have overdosed on a drug presumed to be spice, or synthetic marijuana, fire officials said.The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the area of 5th and San Pedro streets at about 10:30 a.m.Officials said 18 people were evaluated and 14 of those were taken to the hospital.The victims were all suffering from similar symptoms, according to officials, which included altered mental status, combative behavior, and in some cases, seizures."We don't have toxicological confirmation, but it's presumably spice, which is a synthetic type of cannabis or marijuana. And of course, because it's synthetic, nobody for sure knows what active ingredients are in there, the strength is variable," Dr. Marc Eckstein, the Los Angeles Fire Department medical director and EMS bureau commander explained.A similar outbreak happened in the same area on Friday, as officials stated 50 people were evaluated and 38 of those were taken to the hospital."This seems to be very similar to what we had here on Friday," Eckstein said."The drug use here is very widespread amongst the homeless population here in the Skid Row area," he continued. "People would use or smoke spice at their own peril, they're taking their lives into their own hands."Officials called the rise of spice overdoses over the summer a public health crisis and stated a team effort would be needed to come up with a solution."We've seen transports of patients with these types of symptoms all summer, but obviously Friday and today appear to be peaking so we need to work with our partners to come up with a definitive solution," Eckstein said. |||||

Almost 50 people got sick in Los Angeles on Friday, and another 22 became ill in the city Monday—and the LAPD believes the synthetic drug "spice" is to blame. The people reported feeling sick with "drug-induced symptoms," per My News LA, and investigators say the chemicals in the latest version of the drug, which ABC 7 refers to as synthetic marijuana, make it more addictive. Spice has been commonly used in the Skid Row area recently because it's cheap and easy to find, police say, so they've started passing out flyers in the area warning people about the drug's dangers. Overdose symptoms included altered mental states, aggression, and even seizures in some cases. The Fire Department's medical director calls the situation a public health crisis, KTLA reports. "Obviously, there’s a particularly potent batch of some illicit drugs that presumably people here are using," he says. "Patients' lives are in danger."