Amber Webber’s story is a tragic example of the dangerous and evolving nature of the drug supply in the United States. According to recent reports, more than 3,000 people died of xylazine-related overdoses in 2021, triple the fatalities recorded the previous year, reflecting the growing toll of fentanyl-tranquilizer mixes. Xylazine, a potent animal tranquilizer known as “tranq,” can cause deep stupors and rotting flesh wounds that sometimes lead to amputations. Unfortunately, many of these synthetic substances, like xylazine, are difficult to track and pose their own health dangers, making it challenging to reverse overdoses. It’s a frustrating game of whack-a-mole, according to public health and medicine professor Ryan McNeil at Yale University, and tracking street drugs is never easy. The drug supply is dominated by fentanyl mixed with an ever-morphing array of synthetic substances that drug dealers use to stretch their supplies. While many users don’t realize their drugs contain xylazine, which can knock them out and make them susceptible to falls, robberies or rapes, it is important to note that xylazine does not respond to naloxone, the drug commonly used to revive people who are overdosing from opioids.
Despite this challenge, efforts to identify and curb drug deaths are ongoing. Communities are turning to technology like Reddit, texts, and wastewater analysis. Harm-reduction workers keep whiteboards with lists of drugs and their dealer stamps, and some have begun using xylazine test strips. Technology like this can help drug users and harm-reduction groups identify xylazine before it’s too late. Nevertheless, the reality of the volatile drug supply remains, and as McNeil states, “it’s xylazine now, it could be something else tomorrow.”
