United States: DEA urgent alert for the spread of the “zombie drug” that causes skin to rot

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The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has alerted that it has seized mixtures of xylazine with fentanyl, known as Tranq or zombie drugin 48 of the country’s 50 states.

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The DEA “has seized mixtures of xylazine and fentanyl in 48 of 50 states” across the country, the agency said in a statement.

Xylazine, a sedative for veterinary use“It is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even more deadly,” DEA director Anne Milgram said, quoted in the statement, according to the AFP news agency.

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At least 107,735 Americans died between August 2021 and August 2022 from drug poisoning, 66% of them from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, up to 50 times more potent than heroin.

The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has alerted that it has seized mixtures of xylazine with fentanyl, known as Tranq or the zombie drug, in nearly all of the United States.

The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has alerted that it has seized mixtures of xylazine with fentanyl, known as Tranq or the zombie drug, in nearly all of the United States.

Fentanyl is mainly produced in the plants of Mexican cartels, especially the Sinaloa cartel and the Nueva Generación (CJNG) cartel, with precursor chemicals from China.

According to the statement, in 2022, about 23 percent of fentanyl powder and 7 percent of fentanyl pills seized by the DEA contained xylazine, known on the streets as a “zombie drug” because users look like zombies.

The mixture of xylazine and fentanyl increases the risk for users of “suffering from fatal poisoning” but, because xylazine is not an opioid, the antidote known as naloxone “doesn’t reverse its effects,” the statement said.

Even so, experts recommend giving it to people suffering from overdoses.

A woman who lives on the street of Skid Row, a marginal area of ​​Los Angeles, where drugs are rampant.  (AP Photo/Jae C.Hong)

A woman who lives on the street of Skid Row, a marginal area of ​​Los Angeles, where drugs are rampant. (AP Photo/Jae C.Hong)

People who inject drug mixtures containing xylazine can also develop serious injuries necrosisthat is to say, the skin rots, forcing the amputation of members, alert US health authorities.

The substance, that first appeared in Philadelphia before migrating west to San Francisco and Los Angeles, it was used to cut heroin but, more recently, has been discovered in fentanyl and other illicit drugs.

Although approved by the Food and Drug Administration for veterinary use, xylazine — a nonopioid — is not safe for humans, and those who overdose on the drug will not respond to naloxone or Narcan, the overdose reversal treatment more common.

Xylazine causes sedative-like symptoms, including excessive sleepiness and respiratory depression, as well as open wounds that can become severe and spread rapidly with repeated exposure. Crusted ulcers, which can turn into scaly skin and lead to amputation if left untreated.

Because it’s not listed as a controlled substance for animals or humans, “Tranq” falls into a confusing and horrific gray area, and hospitals rarely test it with routine drug testing.

A research note New York Post reports that last January a Philadelphia drug addict suddenly developed xylazine-specific wounds near his opioid injection sites. “I used to wake up crying in the morning because my arms were dying,” Tracey McCann, 39, told that outlet.

The last time the DEA issued a public safety alert was in September 2021, when it warned of a increase in counterfeit fentanyl pills.

In November 2022, it updated it, warning that six out of ten counterfeit pills mixed with this opioid contain a potentially lethal dose.

New York Postt reported that 107,735 Americans died between August 2021 and August 2022 from drug intoxication, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 66 percent of those deaths involved synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

Source: Clarin

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