Flesh-eating ‘Tranq dope’ Xylazine accounts for a third of opioid deaths in Philadelphia

US
By James

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Health officials warn of a terrifying flesh-eating drug increasingly found in heroin, cocaine and other narcotics, leading to a huge number of drug overdoses across the country.

Doctors say that xylazine — a muscle relaxant intended for large animals like horses — is popping up on the illegal drug scene in cities across the United States, adding fentanyl as one of the primary narcotics used to cut opioids.

The drug prolongs the heroin high but causes users to pass out for hours on end, while injection points ulcerate and lead to horrific wounds that spread across the body.

In fact, some users report having a violent eruption all over their bodies where they never injected the drug, and many are left disfigured if fingers, arms, feet, legs and toes are forced to be amputated.

“It eats my skin,” a 28-year-old female user from Philadelphia, Sam Brennan, told me. Shame.

In Philadelphia — considered ground zero for the xylazine crisis — about a third of all fatal opioid overdoses in 2019 were drug-related.

But because Xylazine itself isn’t an opioid, doctors warn that many hospitals don’t know what they see when an overdose victim comes in and can’t detect it in tests, and aren’t able to treat patients the way they would normal opioid overdoses.

Health officials warn of a terrifying flesh-eating drug increasingly found in heroin, cocaine and other narcotics, leading to a huge number of drug overdoses across the country

Health officials warn of a terrifying flesh-eating drug increasingly found in heroin, cocaine and other narcotics, leading to a huge number of drug overdoses across the country

1664121923 816 Flesh eating Tranq dope Xylazine accounts for a third of opioid

1664121923 816 Flesh eating Tranq dope Xylazine accounts for a third of opioid

A massive skin lesion caused by xylazine. Users often exacerbate the problem by injecting the painkiller into their festering wounds

In Philadelphia — considered ground zero for the xylazine crisis — about a third of all fatal opioid overdoses in 2019 were drug-related

In Philadelphia — considered ground zero for the xylazine crisis — about a third of all fatal opioid overdoses in 2019 were drug-related

In Philadelphia — considered ground zero for the xylazine crisis — about a third of all fatal opioid overdoses in 2019 were drug-related

A study of drug and alcohol dependence, conducted in 10 cities, found that in 2015, Xylazine accounted for just 0.36 percent of all fatal overdoses in 2015. However, by 2020, that number had risen to 6.7 percent.

The numbers are most astounding in Philadelphia, where 2 percent of fatal opioid overdoses rose from 2010 to 2015 to 31 percent in 2019 alone.

And it’s not just Philly reporting a terrifying presence of xylazine. The Massachusetts Drug Supply Data Stream found it in 28 percent of drug tests — and even 75 percent in western Massachusetts.

Studies in Michigan showed that the state has seen at least 200 xylazine-related deaths since 2019. It was involved in at least 10 percent of all overdose deaths in Connecticut in 2020 and 19 percent in Maryland in 2021.

The increasing proliferation of xylazine looks frighteningly like the rise of fentanyl in the United States, which has grown from relative obscurity to dominant overdose statistics over the past decade. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the number of fentanyl-related deaths rose from 14.3 percent in 2010 to 59 percent in 2017.

Philadelphia has seen a terrifying increase in amputations, tissue wounds and bone disease, along with the prevalence of xylazine.

The city’s health department has seen a 20 percent rise in bone disease since Xylazine began to dominate the drug scene, and soft tissue rounds are up five percent.

The problem is so serious, Vice says, that last spring the city tried to hire a field nurse to treat Xylazine-related injuries, along with a wound care specialist.

Because xylazine eats into the flesh of the users, the drug’s intended purpose – relaxing the muscles and relieving pain – causes further problems when people inject it into the painful lesions to relieve their pain.

“Since skin ulcers are painful, people can continuously inject the ulcer site to relieve the pain, as xylazine is a potent 2-adrenergic agonist that … reduces the perception of painful stimuli,” a 2021 report in Injury Prevention said, “People can self-treat the wound by draining or puncturing it, which can exacerbate the negative effects.”

Doctors say xylazine — a muscle relaxant intended for large animals like horses — has appeared on the illegal drug scene in cities across the United States, adding fentanyl as one of the primary narcotics used to cut opioids.

Doctors say xylazine — a muscle relaxant intended for large animals like horses — has appeared on the illegal drug scene in cities across the United States, adding fentanyl as one of the primary narcotics used to cut opioids.

Doctors say xylazine — a muscle relaxant intended for large animals like horses — has appeared on the illegal drug scene in cities across the United States, adding fentanyl as one of the primary narcotics used to cut opioids.

The drug prolongs the heroin high, but causes users to pass out for hours on end, while the injection points ulcerate and lead to eerie wounds that spread across the body

The drug prolongs the heroin high, but causes users to pass out for hours on end, while the injection points ulcerate and lead to eerie wounds that spread across the body

The drug prolongs the heroin high, but causes users to pass out for hours on end, while the injection points ulcerate and lead to eerie wounds that spread across the body

Because xylazine eats into the flesh of the user, the drug's intended purpose - relaxing muscles and relieving pain - causes further problems as people inject it into the painful lesions to relieve their pain.

Because xylazine eats into the flesh of the user, the drug's intended purpose - relaxing muscles and relieving pain - causes further problems as people inject it into the painful lesions to relieve their pain.

Because xylazine eats into the flesh of the user, the drug’s intended purpose – relaxing muscles and relieving pain – causes further problems as people inject it into the painful lesions to relieve their pain.

The problem is so serious, Vice says, that last spring the city tried to hire a field nurse to treat Xylazine-related injuries, along with a wound care specialist.

The problem is so serious, Vice says, that last spring the city tried to hire a field nurse to treat Xylazine-related injuries, along with a wound care specialist.

The problem is so serious, Vice says, that last spring the city tried to hire a field nurse to treat Xylazine-related injuries, along with a wound care specialist.

Because xylazine is not an opioid, health officials say most hospitals and emergency responders are unwilling to respond to overdoses.

“Drugs like xylazine, they don’t necessarily respond to Narcan,” Dr. Gjon Dushaj. Fox 6“So if you think someone should respond to Narcan and they don’t, it raises our awareness that there might be something else on board.”

Experts say the best option for treating xyalazine overdose right now is not to try to bring patients back to consciousness, but just to get oxygen flowing to their brains.

“We don’t want to be focused on consciousness — we want to be focused on breathing,” said Amy Davis, deputy director for rural damage reduction operations at Tapestry Health in Massachusetts. NPR.

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