A cheap animal tranquilizer manufactured in China is making America’s opioid epidemic and fentanyl crisis even worse.
Xylazine, or “tranq” as it’s called on the street, has been dubbed a “zombie drug” because of the hunched-over, lifeless state it leaves users in.
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) estimates that its prevalence is “widely underestimated” and “constitutes the deadliest threat our country has ever faced” [fentanyl]even more deadly’.
There are several reasons for concern. It’s incredibly cheap – Dailymail.com found the drug for just $1 per kilogram on online Chinese pharmacies – and because it has the same euphoric effects as opioids, it’s highly addictive.
But xylazine has an even more sinister side. It causes a host of horrifying side effects, including gaping flesh-eating wounds and a zombified anesthetic known as the “dope lean.” And – unlike fentanyl and other opioids – there is no antidote for overdoses, meaning it is effectively incurable.
Xylazine first came into widespread use in Puerto Rico in the early 2000s, as it was shipped from China. In 2006, it had landed in the continental US
Xylazine is an animal sedative that was developed in the 1960s to help veterinarians treat cows, horses and sheep and other large to medium-sized animals.
Drug dealers in Puerto Rico began using it as an adulterant in the early 2000s to prolong their supply of even more expensive drugs, increasing high user sentiment.
Xylazine has a longer duration of action than drugs such as fentanyl, which means that those substances last longer. It also gives a feeling of euphoria building on the high of the other drugs.
Experts estimate that xylazine was present in 80 percent of Puerto Rico’s supply of those substances at one point. Within a decade, however, users naturally became dependent on xylazine.
In 2006, the illegal tranq first appeared in the continental US. Initially, its presence was “sporadic,” the DEA said, but it steadily increased in the mid-2010s.
Xylazine is easy to make, as it has been around for approved use in animals since the 1960s, leading to it being produced at an industrial level in Chinese laboratories.
Despite recent congressional efforts to make xylazine a controlled substance, which would make its use a criminal offense, the drug is still widely available online, making it easier to stream into America’s East Coast undetected.
Cases have skyrocketed. A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that monthly overdose deaths involving xylazine rose from 12 in January 2019 to 188 in June 2022. It also found that monthly fentanyl overdose deaths involving xylazine increased 276 percent in just over three years.
Online Chinese pharmacies list xylazine powder for as little as $1 per kilogram. The average cost, the DEA states, is about $6-$20 per kilogram
However, these numbers only looked at 20 states, plus DC.
In a March report, the DEA stated that xylazine has been found illegal in 48 of the 50 states. In 2020, 808 drug overdoses involving xylazine were reported. That figure rose to 3,089 in 2021.
The largest increase in xylazine distribution between 2020 and 2021 was in the South, with a jump of 193 percent.
The number rose 112 percent in the West, 61 percent in the Northeast, and just seven percent in the Midwest.
However, the DEA stated that the Northeast still has the most illegal xylazine.
“It is very likely that the prevalence of xylazine is widely underestimated,” the October report states.
According to a 2022 study published in the journal Drug and alcohol addictionxylazine was present in nearly 26 percent of overdose deaths in Philadelphia, 19 percent in Maryland and 10 percent in Connecticut.
It has also been found in 90 percent of Philadelphia’s heroin supply. The city’s Kensington neighborhood is known as “ground zero” for the city’s drug crisis.
Between 2020 and 2021, xylazine-related overdose deaths in the South exploded by 1,127 percent, rising from 116 fatalities to nearly 1,500. These deaths increased by 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 overdose deaths involving xylazine rose from 12 in January 2019 to 188 in June 2022. The report also found that the number of xylazine overdoses reported monthly increased by 276 percent in just over three years.
Xylazine depresses the central nervous system, giving users, like this one in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, a zombie-like appearance
“The presence of xylazine in illicit drug combinations and its detection in fatal overdoses may be more widespread than reported, as some jurisdictions across the country may not include xylazine in forensic laboratory or toxicology testing,” the DEA wrote.
In the US, xylazine is converted to opioids such as fentanyl and heroin, which have relatively short durations of action, meaning users don’t stay high for long. Xylazine, however, has a longer duration of action, remaining in the body for up to eight hours.
Xylazine is now available online through Chinese marketplaces, meaning dealers no longer have to source it from Puerto Rico. This extends access, along with the fact that it is so cheap.
A kilogram of the powder can be purchased online for as little as $1, with common prices ranging from $6 to $20.
“At this low price, its use as a counterfeit can increase profits for illegal drug traffickers because its psychoactive effects allow them to reduce the amount of fentanyl or heroin used in a mixture,” the DEA said.
It is not exactly clear how xylazine is made. However, in many cases, liquid xylazine is boiled and made into a powder form, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. From there it is mixed with other substances or pressed into pills.
The DEA believes that the mixing of xylazine with other drugs happens as soon as dealers get their hands on it.
“Use of xylazine in the United States may also follow the pattern seen in Puerto Rico and emerge as a drug of abuse in its own right in the future, although it is unlikely to replace fentanyl or other opioids among illicit drug users,” the DEA said.
“It may also attract customers looking for a longer-lasting high, as xylazine has been reported to provide users with many of the same effects as opioids, but with a longer-lasting effect than fentanyl alone.”
Federal authorities are now rushing to find a solution to the xylazine crisis.
Earlier this month, the White House unveiled a plan to deal with the wave of xylazine-laced drugs sweeping the US. The Biden-Harris administration aims to reduce deaths by silent people by 15 percent by 2025.
The “six pillars of action” the government plans to take to respond to the growing epidemic are to conduct more testing and collect data to roll out 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 and issued an import warning, allowing the detention of shipments of xylazine and ingredients used to make it.