A cheap animal tranquilizer mass-produced in China that is swamping America’s illicit drug supply is terrifying health officials.
Xylazine, or “Tranq” as it’s known on the street, has been dubbed a “zombie drug” due to the bent, lifeless state it leaves the user in and the fact that it causes gashes in the user’s body.
It’s primarily mixed with fentanyl to create a deadly cocktail that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has called “the deadliest threat our country has ever faced.”
The DEA is concerned for several reasons. Xylazine is incredibly cheap – Dailymail.com found the drug in Chinese online pharmacies for just $1 per kilogram – and because it has the same euphoric effects as opioids, it is highly addictive.
But Xylazine has an even more sinister side. It causes a number of horrifying side effects, including rotting skin and a zombified stupor known as “dope lean.” And – unlike fentanyl and other opioids – there is no antidote for overdose, meaning taking too much xylazine can be a death sentence.
Xylazine was first used extensively in Puerto Rico in the early 2000s as it was shipped from China. By 2006, it had landed in the continental US
Xylazine is an animal tranquilizer developed in the 1960s to help veterinarians treat cows, horses, and sheep, as well as other large to medium-sized animals.
Drug dealers in Puerto Rico began using it as a release agent in the early 2000s to prolong stocks of more expensive drugs like heroin and cocaine. For example, a kilogram of xylazine can be 15 times cheaper than fentanyl and 16 times cheaper than cocaine.
Xylazine has a longer duration of action than drugs like fentanyl, giving users the impression of a longer-lasting “high.” It also increases the intensity of euphoria felt with other drugs.
Experts estimate that xylazine was once included in 80 percent of the Puerto Rican supply of these substances. However, within a decade, users became addicted to xylazine.
In 2006, illegal tranq first appeared in the continental US. The presence was “sporadic” at first, according to the DEA, but steadily increased in the mid-2010s.
Xylazine is easy to manufacture as it has been approved for use in animals since the 1960s, leading to its being manufactured in Chinese laboratories on an industrial scale.
Despite recent moves by Congress to make xylazine a controlled substance, which would criminalize its use, the drug is still widely available online, making it easier to get to America’s east coast undetected.
The number of cases has skyrocketed. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the monthly overdose deaths related to
Chinese online pharmacies offer xylazine powder for as little as $1 per kilogram. The average cost is about $6 to $20 per kilogram, according to the DEA
However, these numbers are for only 20 states plus DC.
In a March report, the DEA said illegal xylazine had been found in 48 out of 50 states. In 2020, 808 drug overdoses involving xylazine were reported. That number rose to 3,089 in 2021.
The largest increase in xylazine spread between 2020 and 2021 was in the south, with a 193 percent increase.
Volumes rose 112 percent in the West, 61 percent in the Northeast, and just 7 percent in the Midwest.
However, the DEA stated that the Northeast still has the highest amount of illegal xylazine.
“It is very likely that the prevalence of xylazine is being grossly underestimated,” states the October report.
According to a 2022 study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, xylazine was present in nearly 26 percent of overdose deaths in Philadelphia, 19 percent in Maryland, and 10 percent in Connecticut.
It was also found in 90 percent of Philadelphia’s heroin supply. The borough of Kensington is known as “ground zero” for the city’s drug crisis.
Between 2020 and 2021, xylazine-related overdose deaths in the South skyrocketed by 1,127 percent, from 116 deaths to nearly 1,500. Those deaths were up 750 percent in the West, 516 percent in the Midwest and 103 percent in the Northeast.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the number of monthly overdose deaths related to
Xylazine weakens the central nervous system, causing users like these in the Kensington area of Philadelphia to appear zombie-like
“The presence of xylazine in illicit drug combinations and its detection in fatal overdoses may be more widespread than reported because a number of jurisdictions across the country may not include xylazine in forensic laboratory or toxicology testing,” the DEA wrote.
In the US, xylazine is found in opioids like fentanyl and heroin, which have relatively short-acting effects, meaning users don’t stay high for long. However, xylazine has a longer duration of action and stays in the body for up to eight hours.
Xylazine is now available online through Chinese marketplaces, eliminating the need for retailers to source it from Puerto Rico. This expands access and is also very cheap.
A kilogram of the powder can be bought online for as little as $1, with usual prices ranging from $6 to $20.
“At this low price point, its use as an adulterant can increase profits for illicit drug dealers because its psychoactive effects allow them to reduce the amount of fentanyl or heroin in a mix,” the DEA said.
It’s not exactly clear how xylazine is made. However, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, in many cases liquid xylazine is boiled down and processed into powder form. From there it is mixed with other substances or pressed into tablets.
The DEA believes that mixing xylazine with other drugs will happen once the dealers get into the hands of drug traffickers.
“Use of xylazine across the United States could also follow the pattern observed in Puerto Rico and emerge as a drug in its own right in the future, although it is unlikely to replace fentanyl or other opioids in illicit drug users,” the DEA said.
“It may also attract clients looking for a longer high, as xylazine is reported to have many of the same effects as opioids in users, but with longer-lasting effects than fentanyl alone.”
Xylazine binds and blocks adrenergic receptors in the brain that release the stress hormones norepinephrine and dopamine, effectively slowing down brain activity.
The result is a reduction in pain and stress, and a feeling of euphoria similar to that of opioids.
Because xylazine is usually fixed with fentanyl or heroin, it is commonly injected but can also be swallowed, smoked, or snorted.
At first, someone might experience a feeling of euphoria and calmness as the drug suppresses the release of stress hormones in the brain.
However, over time, the user can become disoriented and confused. Breathing may be shallow or even stop.
This is because while xylazine has an effect on the brain, it also shuts down the body, causing muscles to relax and organs to slow down to the levels they would be working at during sleep.
Physical symptoms often include a drop in blood pressure, a slower heart rate, and pulmonary depression.
Because illicit xylazine is often mixed with other substances and in varying amounts, it is difficult to know how much someone has ingested.
The federal authorities are now trying to find a solution to this crisis.
Earlier this month, the White House unveiled a plan to combat the xylazine drug wave sweeping the United States. The Biden-Harris administration aims to reduce Tranq deaths by 15 percent by 2025.
The “six pillars of action” the government intends to take in response to the growing epidemic are conducting more testing and collecting data to implement an “evidence-based prevention, harm reduction and treatment plan” that will reduce supply.
The plan does not yet recommend restricting xylazine.
In February, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched a crackdown on the drug, issuing an import alert that would allow shipments of xylazine and the ingredients used to make it to be withheld.
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