The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has issued a warning over a flesh-rotting drug that is being cut with fentanyl.
Xylazine, known as “Tranq” is a sedative approved for veterinary use but not human consumption. The DEA is warning of a “sharp increase in the trafficking of fentanyl mixed with xylazine.”
𝐏𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐂 𝐒𝐀𝐅𝐄𝐓𝐘 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐓: DEA warns of a sharp increase in trafficking of #Fentanyl mixed w/ #Xylazine, a powerful sedative @US_FDA approved for veterinary use. Because Xylazine is not an opioid, naloxone (Narcan) does not reverse its effects. https://t.co/L7uqCR3Ht5 pic.twitter.com/N5HW9kbKi6
— DEA HQ (@DEAHQ) March 20, 2023
“Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier,” said a DEA Administrator.
PIX11 News has confirmed that #xylazine was present in about 20% of recent fatal overdoses reported in New York City. pic.twitter.com/Lx6BBb5mHL
— PIX11 News (@PIX11News) March 22, 2023
“Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in the DEA statement. “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.” (RELATED: Mayorkas Launches Program To Combat Fentanyl Smuggling At The Border)
Xylazine does not respond to naloxone (Narcan), which is used to treat opioid overdoses, though authorities say if someone is suffering from drug overdoses they can be given substance to try and reverse the effects.
The drug can lead to necrosis which is the rotting of human tissue, the DEA warned.
Users typically feel sedated and relaxed, with the drug originally used to cut heroin before being found in fentanyl.
During the first half of 2022, xylazine was found in 5% of those who died of an opioid overdose in Boston, toxicology results showed, according to WCVB News. By June 2022, authorities discovered 28% of the drug samples tested were positive for xylazine in the same area, according to the report.