The streets of America are being invaded by a new horrific drug that puts its users in a zombie-like state and rots their skin from within, causing gashes.
Xylazine, a US-approved veterinary tranquilizer for cows and horses, is now flooding the illicit US drug market, with drug dealers banning everything from cocaine to heroin containing the powerful tranquilizer.
Most commonly, however, it’s used to reduce fentanyl, the deadly synthetic opioid that already kills tens of thousands of Americans every year.
According to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), xylazine is available on internet sites in both liquid and powder forms for as little as $6.
The drug is currently available across the country and is available online for as little as $6
The agency states that websites often have no connection to the veterinary profession or meet requirements to demonstrate a legitimate need for it.
The DEA said prices varied from $6 to $24 from overseas suppliers.
found numerous websites in the US and China that mailed the drug in either powder or liquid form.
According to listings on Chinese websites, “raw” quality xylazine powder can be safely shipped to your home address from a biotech company based in Hebei province.
Other US-based websites, primarily pet pharmacies, also offer the drug with prices starting at $27.
In a public safety alert, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said, “Xylazine makes the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier.”
“DEA has seized xylazine and fentanyl mixtures in 48 out of 50 states.”
“The DEA Laboratory System reports that in 2022, approximately 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl pills seized by the DEA contained xylazine.”
has found offers from suppliers in China offering the drug at a list price of US$10 per kilogram
According to the supplier, the quality of the drug is “raw” and it comes in a yellow color
Meanwhile, the drug has flooded the streets of Los Angeles, prompting local authorities to issue warnings against using the drug
What is xylazine?
Xylazine is an animal tranquilizer developed in the 1960s to help veterinarians treat cows, horses, and sheep, as well as other animals.
It is commonly sold under brand names such as Rompun and Anased.
The drug stimulates the muscles of animals to relax, and also has an analgesic effect – it relieves pain. It does this by releasing less norepinephrine and dopamine into the central nervous system.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved xylazine for use in animals. There are few studies on its effects on humans.
In drug supply, it is often reduced along with fentanyl and other drugs, reducing the frequency with which an addict needs to be injected.
Emma Roberts, an executive director of the National Harm Reduction Coalition in New York, previously told that the addition of xylazine has enabled drug users to go from an average of six to eight times a day to get high to inject three to four .
The drug is not an opioid, but is often mixed with opioids – such as fentanyl – when used to enhance effects. Because of this, people who take it have a harder time being treated with the overdose-reversing drug naloxone.
Los Angeles officials are trying to stop the spread of the flesh-eating drug xylazine — also known as the “zombie drug” — that the city has taken over
Los Angeles County is trying to alleviate the problem by tracking drug presence across the city
The drug has also recently spread to Los Angeles, where news crews have been holding people prostrate on the floor, exhausted from the drug
A massive skin lesion caused by xylazine. Often, users aggravate the problem by injecting the painkiller into their suppurating sores. Published in a magazine in 2021, this image shows the lesion extending from the hand to the forearm
What happens if I take Xylazine?
The Drug Enforcement Administration says xylazine takes a few minutes to work, with effects lasting up to four hours in animals. It is not clear how long these would last in humans.
In many cases, users “pass out” for hours on street corners and at bus stops. When these people come to, they find that the heroin high has worn off and go in search of the next hit.
Dangerously, the drug also causes open sores to develop on the body – often remote from the injection site.
FDA warns that cocaine, meth and heroin will be reduced with the deadly animal tranquilizer ‘Xylazine’
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning on xylazine in November after the drug began to appear in a growing number of toxicological reports following fatal overdoses.
Xylazine is not approved for human consumption and is typically used in veterinary medicine as a tranquilizer or pain reliever for cows and horses.
The FDA warns that in humans it can cause “serious and life-threatening side effects that appear to be similar to those commonly associated with opioid use.”
Still, xylazine is increasingly being used by drug dealers as a release agent in heroin, meth, cocaine and opioids, the federal agency told stakeholders in a letter Tuesday.
The alert warned that it can be “difficult” to distinguish a xylazine overdose from an opioid overdose – both drugs lead to the onset of lung failure.
But unlike opioids, xylazine overdoses cannot be controlled with naloxone, the rescue drug used to reverse an opioid overdose.
Ms Roberts, who has worked with xylazine patients in Puerto Rico, told : “We are seeing very large lesions, sometimes at the injection site and sometimes in the body.”
“If they’re left, they can cut straight through and you can see people’s bones and tendons.”
“A man I worked with couldn’t bend his wrist properly because the wound was so deep you could see his tendons.”
When asked how big the wounds were, she added, “I’ve seen someone whose lesions were the size of their forearm, just above the wrist to near the elbow.”
Nurses have described to STAT News that it appears as if something is “eating your flesh from the inside out”.
Medical professionals are still unsure what triggers the lesions in those taking the drug. One theory that’s gaining traction is that the drug causes severe inflammation in the body, making it harder for wounds to heal.
It can also damage blood vessels and weaken the immune system, making people more susceptible to infections.
Other effects of the drug include blurred vision, disorientation, drowsiness, and tumbling. It can also lead to coma, difficulty breathing, and high blood pressure.
Many patients are disfigured by the drug.
In cases where the wound becomes infected and spreads to the bone, doctors may have no choice but to amputate a limb.
The drug can also cause the “progressive and widespread” appearance of skin ulcers full of dead tissue.
Is Xylazine Deadlier Than Fentanyl?
The Drug Enforcement Administration warns that combining xylazine with fentanyl or other opioids can increase the risk of a fatal overdose.
Experts say that patients die after taking xylazine because it can slow breathing, heart rate and lower blood pressure, which increases the effects of other drugs.
A record nearly 107,000 Americans die from overdoses each year. However, estimates of how many of these are due to xylazine are unavailable because this data is not routinely collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Experts say the drug could be contributing to a rise in overdose deaths.
dr Chelsea Shover, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, told NPR, “If you have an opioid and a tranquilizer, those two things together will have a stronger effect.”
The drug prolongs the high of heroin but causes users to pass out for hours while the injection sites ulcerate, resulting in grisly sores that spread throughout the body. Pictured: Homeless people on the streets of Kensington, Philadelphia
How is it treated?
There is no approved antidote for human xylazine overdoses, and treatment instead focuses on relieving symptoms.
People who have overdosed continue to receive naloxone because it treats other drugs they may have also been taking, such as fentanyl.
However, the naloxone itself will not be able to combat the effects of xylazine on breathing problems and blood pressure.
This has raised concerns among experts that the increasing prevalence of xylazine in the drug supply could affect the effectiveness of naloxone.
Medical professionals say care teams should focus on helping the patient breathe and making sure their blood pressure is not too high.
Wounds caused by the drug can be treated with antibiotics.