Xylazine (“Tranq”)

 

Just when you thought the deadliest drug threat in American history couldn’t get any deadlier, Rachel Treisman has news for you:

Federal authorities are warning Americans about an emerging public safety threat: fentanyl mixed with xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer that’s been linked to a growing number of overdose deaths across the country.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration issued an alert [in March] of a “sharp increase in the trafficking of fentanyl mixed with xylazine,” which is also known as “tranq” or “tranq dope.”

 

Shishira Sreenivas tells us more about the drug — a central nervous system depressant commonly used by veterinarians to quickly sedate pets and farm animals for as long as 4 hours — and how it has made its way into the illicit drug supply:

Xylazine, commonly known as “tranq,” is a non-opioid sedative analgesic medication that’s largely mixed into (adulterated) and used as an additive with other opioid substances like heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine. Blending tranq helps to bulk up and boost or mimic the effects of these drugs. As a matter of fact, tranq is now found in up to 15% of fentanyl tests.

But exposure to this mix of chemicals can have dangerous, potentially life-threatening effects on your health. It can cause such horrific wounds (necrotic skin ulcers) on your skin that it’s being dubbed a “zombie drug.”

 

More than 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2022, the majority due to the synthetic opioid fentanyl. Opioids adulterated with a powerful drug like xylazine alarms Lisa Jarvis:

Xylazine is a scary addition to the illicit medicine cabinet. The drug is relatively cheap and has longer-lasting effects than fentanyl alone, and can cause skin to slough off, forming deep wounds that can become so badly infected they require amputation. Users can lose chunks of time, blackouts that put them at risk of rape and theft. And its growing presence in the fentanyl supply is making it even harder to treat addiction.

 

The telltale signs of xylazine overdose are similar to fentanyl: extreme drowsiness, pinpoint pupils, slowed breathing and heart rate, and low blood pressure. Without quick medical interventions, symptoms can lead to unconsciousness, respiratory arrest, and death.

It is almost impossible for first responders and emergency medical providers to detect the presence of “Tranq” in individuals suspected of drug overdoses. While Narcan (naloxone) is useful for reversing fentanyl overdoses, it does not counteract the effects of xylazine. Not responding to Narcan is an important clue for emergency responders that xylazine is involved in the overdose.

Treisman points to one state at the epicenter of the national crisis:

Xylazine was found in over 90% of drug samples tested in Philadelphia in 2021, the program says. There are currently no validated drug-checking tests or tools for detecting xylazine; the health department got that data by testing drug samples with a forensic toxicology lab.

The problem has grown far beyond Philadelphia or even the entire state of Pennsylvania, which saw its percentage of overdose deaths involving xylazine jump from 2% to 26% between 2015 and 2020.

The NIH says overdose deaths linked to xylazine have spread westward across the U.S., including states like Texas and Ohio and hitting hardest in the Northeast.

 

A case report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics urges pediatricians to stay informed and vigilant:

Our report reveals that pediatricians should be aware of sentinel drug trends among adults, including the emerging types of illicit, synthetic, or counterfeit formulations of recreational substances, because children may be harmed because of accidental or intentional exposure.

 

Read more about the ongoing opioid crisis on The PediaBlog here.

 

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source https://www.thepediablog.com/2023/04/25/xylazine-tranq/