U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Badge. The DEA issued a warning warning of “a sharp increase in the trade in fentanyl mixed with xylazine” on Monday.
Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images
hide captions
switch captions
Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Badge. The DEA issued a warning warning of “a sharp increase in the trade in fentanyl mixed with xylazine” on Monday.
Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images
Federal authorities are warning Americans of an emerging public safety threat: fentanyl mixed with xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizers that has to do with the growing number of drug overdose deaths across the country.
US Drug Enforcement Administration give a warning The second warned of “a sharp increase in the trade in fentanyl mixed with xylazine,” also known as “tranq” or “tranq dope.”
“Xylazine is creating the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even more dangerous,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said, adding that the DEA seized a mixture of xylazine and fentanyl in 48 of 50 states.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 107,735 Americans died from drug poisoning between August 2021 and August 2022, and 66% of those deaths involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
According to Milgram, about 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl drugs seized by the DEA in 2022 contained xylazine.
Non-opioid tranquilizers are approved for use in animals but not in humans. The National Institutes of Health says studies show that people exposed to xylazine often use it in combination with other drugs — both accidentally and intentionally, as some people report using fentanyl with xylazine “to prolongs its euphoric effect.”
Repeated use of xylazine has been associated with severe skin ulcers and wounds — including necrosis, rotting of human tissue — that can lead to amputation.
The DEA says mixing it with fentanyl puts people at higher risk of fatal poisoning.
Because the sedative is not an opiate, its effects cannot be reversed by the opiate overdose antidote naloxone (aka Narcan). The NIH said public health officials are concerned that the spread of xylazine in the opiate supply could make naloxone less effective for some overdoses.
Experts still recommend Narcan if someone may be experiencing an overdose, especially since xylazine is often combined with opioids. But people should know that it will not address the effects of xylazine on breathing and calling emergency medical services in any way.
Xylazine is hitting the Northeast especially hard
Xylazine is a central nervous system depressant that can cause drowsiness and memory loss, and slow a person’s breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure to dangerously low levels. People report injecting, snorting, swallowing, and inhaling it.
Research to show that tranq that’s been part of Puerto Rico’s illegal opioid scene since the early 2000s and came to Philadelphia soon after. It was first seen in toxicology reports starting in 2006, according to Philly’s Addictive Usepart of the city’s health department.
Xylazine was found in more than 90% of drug samples tested in Philadelphia by 2021, the program said. There is currently no valid drug test or tool to detect xylazine; The health department obtained that data by testing drug samples with a forensic toxicology lab.
The problem has spread beyond Philadelphia or even the entire state of Pennsylvania, which has seen xylazine-related overdose deaths increase from 2% to 26% between 2015 and 2020.
The NIH said xylazine-related overdose deaths have spread westward across the United States, including states like Texas and Ohio, and hit hardest in the Northeast.
It is involved in 10% of all drug overdoses in Connecticut in 2020 and 19% of all drug overdoses in Maryland the following year.
There are efforts to solve the growing problem
Federal agencies and lawmakers are taking steps to raise awareness and limit the spread of xylazine.
In November, the Food and Drug Administration distributed A guide for healthcare professionals warning about the risk of patient exposure to xylazine in illegal drugs.
And it said at the end of February that they have taken action to limit the illegal import of the substance, subject it to strict FDA scrutiny, and give FDA personnel the ability to withhold any shipments that appear to be in violation of the law.
Tracey Forfa, director of the FDA’s Veterinary Medicines Center, said: “We recognize the public health effects of xylazine contaminating these illicit drugs and are continuing to ensure that the product is safe to use. legally used only in veterinary medicine”.
Dr. Rahul Gupta, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, told CNN that the White House is considering designating xylazine as a potential “emerging threat,” which would trigger the development of a federal plan to address it.
Just this week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer held a news conference in Watertown, NY, to outline a plan to prevent xylazine-related overdoses, like Northern Public Radio report.
The plan includes accelerating FDA efforts to track and eliminate illegal sources of xylazine in the Northeast, increase funding for a federal program help law enforcement with money to hire more staff and increase funding for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
