Xylazine: what is this “zombie drug” that is wreaking havoc in the United States? – Featured

2023-04-17 13:11:48

17 avril 2023

A sedative for animals, xylazine has been diverted and associated with fentanyl, this powerful synthetic drug widely used in the United States. Implicated in a growing number of overdoses across the Atlantic, xylazine, combined with fentanyl, has been classified as an “emerging threat” for the country.

It is nicknamed “the zombie drug” or “tranq dope”. And the White House has officially designated it as an “emerging threat” to the United States. It is xylazine, associated with fentanyl. A sedative and analgesic approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for veterinary use only, xylazine has emerged in recent years on the streets, while the United States is going through a serious health crisis, the opioid crisis. The classification as “emerging threat”a first for a drug, comes following “a careful examination of the impact of xylazine on the opioid crisis, including its growing role in overdose deaths in all regions of the United States”, says a recent press release from the White House.

According to figures provided by the presidency, deaths from xylazine overdose jumped 1127% in the South of the country, 750% in the West, 500% in the Midwest and 100% in the Northeast. “Xylazine is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced”, writes the Drug enforcement administration (DEA). Used as a cutting agent in particular fentanyl, a synthetic drug widely used in the United States, xylazine was detected in nearly a quarter of fentanyl powder seized in 2022. Its price is derisory, 1kg of xylazine is available online for only $6.

No overdose treatment

A powerful sedative, xylazine takes its name from the “zombie drug” because of the effects it causes. Analgesic, xylazine relieves pain, causes euphoria and muscle relaxation. It induces dangerously slow breathing and heart rate, explains Newsweek. The New York Times describes a state of stupor that can last for several hours.

Its repeated consumption causes tissue necrosis, due, according to Newsweek, to a constriction of blood vessels and a lack of oxygenation of the skin. Abscesses thus form under the skin to rise to the surface and cause deep and significant wounds, which are difficult to treat.

A xylazine overdose can induce central nervous system and respiratory system depression, hypotension, bradycardia, hypothermia, miosis or elevated blood sugar, details the FDA in a November 8, 2022 document, addressed to health professionals. Overdose is also difficult to treat because naloxone, usually used for opioid overdoses, does not work once morest xylazine, which is not an opioid. For now, there is no treatment for an overdose of xylazine.

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  Source : The White House, FDA, DEA, Newsweek, New York Times

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  Written by : Dorothée Duchemin – Edited by Charlotte David

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