The failure of the War on Drugs
The opioid epidemic rages on within the United States, with little signs of slowing down. In September of 2021, the DEA released a public safety alert to warn individuals of the growing danger associated with fake prescription pills laced with fentanyl. In a November 2022 update the DEA warned the public that their findings suggested 60% of fentanyl-laced prescription pills contained a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl.
As the number of drugs available to individuals increases, so too do the dangers. Xylazine, colloquially known as “Tranq” is sweeping throughout the United States, largely under the radar.
Xylazine was discovered as an antihypertensive in 1962 by Farbenfabriken Bayer in Germany, and is intended for veterinary use in situations where sedation and/or anesthesia is required — often combined with ketamine. Xylazine was originally studied for use in humans, but side effects prevented the FDA from signing off on its human indication.
The situation has only grown more dire since then, with particular emphasis on Puerto Rico, where the drug is known as anestesia de caballo — “horse anesthetic”. The street names for the drug in the United States by contrasts are “tranq”, “tranq dope”, and “zombie drug” to name a few.
The appearance of xylazine is on the rise in the continental United States as well
For example, a 2020 study by Johnson and colleagues at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health found that between 2010 and 2019 the presence of xylazine in unintentional heroin and/or fentanyl overdose victims rose from 2% to 31%.
Some consider Philly to be “ground zero”
In addition, a 2023 CDC report found illicit fentanyl was linked to 84% of the 2,912 drug overdose deaths in Maryland between July of 2020 and June of 2021. What’s more, 80% of the 364 samples of paraphernalia collected at syringe exchange programs (between November of 2021 and August of 2022 in Maryland) that tested positive for fentanyl or fentanyl analogs also tested positive for xylazine.
“Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier,” said Administrator Milgram. “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 FDA Warns HCPs
In a November 2022 release, the FDA warned health care professionals about the dangers of xylazine and the lack of knowledge of the substance among opioid (and other narcotic) users — also noting that severe side effects of repeated exposure may include developing severe, necrotic skin ulcerations.
If you’re so inclined, feel free to look this up (Puerto Rico has a number of images from their study(s) of the drug circa 2010) — but be warned, they’re incredibly graphic.
What’s more, xylazine is not an opioid, and therefore cannot be combatted with products like naloxone (known to many as the name brand, NARCAN).
If none of the above has peeked your interest, it may be worthwhile knowing the crisis appears to be spreading further inland. A national drug testing company (Millennium Health) released a warning to Minnesota residents that they’d noticed a spike in tests coming back positive for xylazine. In the 100 days following the Biden administrations April 2023 briefing on xylazine as an emerging threat to the United States, Millennium health found that 12% of fentanyl screenings in Minnesota tested positive for xylazine.
The growing concern over narcotic abuse within the United States raises the question of how this keeps happening, and what steps we may be able to take as a country in order to reduce overdose deaths, as well as routine abuse of varying narcotics. One has to wonder if addressing the drug use itself is too shortsighted — essentially treating the symptoms rather than the underlying cause(s) of the disease. Whether it be mental health, economic hardship in declining communities, or corrupt pharmaceutical companies pedaling shady (at best) data — the fact remains that this problem isn’t going away, and we’d do well to pay attention before it gets even further out of control.
The list doesn’t end there, for further reading on the subject please consider the following:
- 22 Pill Presses, 257 Pill Press Parts; Fentanyl, and Xylazine: Cincinnati CBP Targets Deadly Imports
- Illicitly Manufactured Fentanyl–Involved Overdose Deaths with Detected Xylazine — United States, January 2019–June 2022
- Horse tranquilizer-related deaths reported in Hawaii amid disturbing national trend
- Saranac Lake PD installs Narcan, Xylazine test strip vending machine
If you’d like to stay up-to-date on this emerging issue within the United States, please consider following me for future updates.
