“The Rising Threat of Xylazine and Fentanyl: An Emerging Crisis in the United States”

It is nicknamed “the zombie drug” or “tranq dope”. And the White House has officially designated it as an “emerging threat” to the United States. It is xylazine, associated with fentanyl. A sedative and analgesic approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for veterinary use only, xylazine has emerged in recent years on the streets, while the United States is going through a serious health crisis, the opioid crisis.

threat to the country

Classification as an “emerging threat”, a first for a drugcomes after “a careful examination of the impact of xylazine on the opioid crisis, including its growing role in overdose deaths in all regions of the United States”, specifies a recent press release from the White House.

According to figures provided by the presidency, deaths from xylazine overdose jumped 1127% in the South of the country, 750% in the West, 500% in the Midwest and 100% in the Northeast. “Xylazine is the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced”, writes the Drug enforcement administration (DEA). Used as a cutting agent, in particular fentanyl, a synthetic drug widely used in the United States, xylazine was detected in nearly a quarter of fentanyl powder seized in 2022. Its price is derisory, 1kg of xylazine is available online for only $6.

No overdose treatment

Powerful sedative, xylazine takes its name from “zombie drug” because of the effects it causes. Analgesic, xylazine relieves pain, causes euphoria and muscle relaxation. It induces a dangerously slow breathing and heart rate, explains Newsweek. The New York Times describes a stupor that can last several hours.

Its repeated consumption causes tissue necrosis, due, according to Newsweek, to a constriction of blood vessels and a lack of oxygenation of the skin. Abscesses thus form under the skin to rise to the surface and cause deep and significant wounds, which are difficult to treat.

An overdose of xylazine can induce central nervous system and respiratory system depression, hypotension, bradycardia, hypothermia, miosis, or high blood sugardetails the FDA in a document dated November 8, 2022, addressed to health professionals.

Overdose is also difficult to treat because naloxone, usually used for opioid overdoses, does not work against xylazine, which is not an opioid. For now, there is no treatment for an overdose of xylazine.