Xylazine Is Becoming Increasingly Destructive
As if opiates, and fentanyl specifically, weren’t enough to battle, the addition of Xylazine to other street drugs is increasing the risk of using these drugs.
Xylazine is a sedative used in veterinary medicine. It currently has no approved uses for humans because of its adverse effects of necrotic skin ulcers if injected, sedation, difficulty breathing, dangerously low blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, slowed heart rate, and coma. Overdoses on opiates that are mixed with xylazine may not respond to Narcan administration, which complicates resuscitation efforts in those cases. Withdrawal symptoms can include significant anxiety, body aches, cravings, fast heart rate, feeling sad, high blood pressure, and irritability.
Xylazine first appeared in Puerto Rico’s drug supply in the early 2000s. Xylazine is most commonly found in lower-priced fentanyl, where its relative low cost lowers the price of the fentanyl.
“Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier.”
“Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier,” according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration. They went on to state that “DEA has seized xylazine and fentanyl mixtures in 48 of 50 States. The DEA Laboratory System is reporting that in 2022 approximately 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl pills seized by the DEA contained xylazine.”
The DEA also reports that between 2020 and 2021, forensic laboratory identifications of xylazine rose in all four U.S. census regions, most notably in the South (193%) and the West (112%) and that Xylazine-positive overdose deaths increased by 1,127% in the South, 750% in the West, more than 500% in the Midwest, and more than 100% in the Northeast.
“The shift from plant-based drugs, like heroin and cocaine, to synthetic, chemical-based drugs, like fentanyl and methamphetamine, has resulted in the most dangerous and deadly drug crisis the United States has ever faced.”
The DEA further noted that “The shift from plant-based drugs, like heroin and cocaine, to synthetic, chemical-based drugs, like fentanyl and methamphetamine, has resulted in the most dangerous and deadly drug crisis the United States has ever faced.”
It goes unsaid that xylazine is part of the chemical-based crisis.
This increasing threat isn’t exclusive to the US. Canada’s CBC News reported finding pink and purple variations of Xylazine (“tranq” or “tranq dope”) in samples they tested.
Canada reported xylazine-positive tests increased from 5 in 2018, to 205 in 2019, to 1,350 in 2022.
The DEA announced on October 23, 2023 that they had identified xylazine entering the US as a solid form from China and other countries, as liquid that had been diverted from veterinary supply or packaged to look like a veterinary drug, and, to a lesser extent, as coming over the Southwest border pre-mixed with fentanyl.
With this latest emergence and increasing prevalence of a highly dangerous synthetic drug, it is vital that steps are taken to curtail its availability, as well as to help those who have been exposed to it already.
The recommendation for treating opioid overdose has always been Narcan. While Narcan can and does save lives, xylazine is not an opioid and does not respond to Narcan administration. For that reason, if a person overdoses on a combination of an opioid and xylazine, rescue breathing and CPR may be needed until professional help can arrive.
If you have a person in your family or a friend who uses opioids, they need to be aware that they may be getting a mixture that is potentially even more fatal and can’t be handled with Narcan alone in the case of an overdose. It is important that family members and friends are prepared to assist with rescue breathing and/or CPR. Taking a First Aid/CPR course is a step that may save the life of a loved one or friend.
Not taking drugs is the best way to eliminate the possibility of a fatal mistake. The way to make that happen is for the person using opioids to get help with their addiction. This is the most important step that can be taken to save a drug user’s life.
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