Author's Note: This article was written in early 2015, but started circulating on social media again in January 2016. We have no knowledge that these brands are still being targeted or even still exist on the streets of New Jersey. The NJ State Police said they have no current advisories regarding specific heroin brands.

State officials from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York have identified three highly lethal brands of drugs that have been responsible for at least six overdose deaths recently, the latest twist in the state's ongoing battle with heroin and opioid abuse.

State police said wax folds stamped "Power Hour," "Taliban," and "Strike Dead," which may be being sold as heroin, have been found to contain a highly potent and dangerous mix of drugs not typically seen in the Garden State.

Additionally, Narcan, a highly effective opioid antidote that has saved the lives of hundreds of overdose victims since April 2014, has been found to be ineffective in treating some of these drug brands. Authorities said users may be unaware they are purchasing a potentially lethal mix of drugs.

"We're putting this out there as a public service. If people are out there that may be in possession of some of these brands, they may not know what's inside them," said Sgt. Jeff Flynn of the New Jersey State Police. "They don't know what they're getting into and if they overdose, when first responders arrive, the Narcan is not going to save them."

State police said it was not clear if the drugs were being marketed as heroin. Some did contain the drug, but some of the branded wax folds contained no heroin at all, authorities said.

"Typically heroin is packaged and sold like this, in the wax folds,"Flynn said.

The warning comes days after an NJ Advance Media report about fentanyl, a powerful and potentially deadly opioid that has been found more frequently in doses of heroin in the Garden State. It was not immediately clear if fentanyl was found in the three brands of drugs identified by authorities.

Heroin and opioid abuse has been called the New Jersey's number one health crisis by state officials and has been responsible for the death of more than 5,000 people since 2004, according to state statistics.

The drugs were identified through the Drug Monitoring Initiative, a collaboration between various agencies within New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, which can help quickly identify and disseminate information about dangerous drug mixtures found on New Jersey streets.

"Nothing less than an all-out, multi-disciplinary approach will suffice to address the crisis of heroin abuse in New Jersey that is destroying lives and ripping apart our families and communities," said Acting Attorney General Jay Hoffman. "The Drug Monitoring Initiative is a common sense, life-saving program that sounds the alarm when we identify lethal drug brands being peddled on our streets."

Authorities said the warning was issued in hopes of reaching drug users who are potentially in possession of the drug brands and may not know of their contents or potency.

"Since early last year, we have taken a fresh approach to combating the heroin epidemic in the region based on information sharing from the local through the federal levels. When we learn of clusters of drug overdoses, we immediately alert our law enforcement partners with details of the threat," said Col. Rick Fuentes, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. "We are first and foremost interested in saving lives, and that is what this early notification protocol is all about."

Stephen Stirling may be reached at sstirling@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @sstirling. Find him on Facebook.