DEA calls ‘tranq’ the ‘deadliest drug threat US has ever faced’
Columbia, MO (KMIZ)
The ongoing opioid crisis in America now faces another lethal drug called xylazine that is becoming a growing threat to communities.
Xylazine is commonly referred to as “tranq.” Tranq is a veterinary tranquilizer. John Dodam, a veterinary anesthesiology specialist at the University of the Missouri says it is used mainly on large animals such as horses.
“They are useful to use because they provide pain relief, sedation and muscle relaxation, Dodam explained. "Primarily xylazine is used in large animal veterinary medicine at this point and it is not typically prescribed to owners as much as it is used to facilitate standing or anesthetize procedures as part of the protocols that we use.”
Xylazine also increases the high of any other drug it might be cut with. People mix tranq with drugs like heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl. While the high increases so does the risk of overdose.
Tranq overdoses look eerily similar to fentanyl overdoses. Unfortunately, unlike a typical fentanyl overdose, narcan does not work on tranq. This gives users a false sense of security.
“Not only is fentanyl a threat but xylazine is found to be present so some folks believe because narcan or naloxone is commonly available on the street now for both citizens to have and public safety that there is a measure of protection for the risky behavior they may take”, John Schrock, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Kansas City DEA office says.
People can get tranq into their bloodstream by smoking, snorting, injecting, swallowing or inhaling it. Once tranq enters the bloodstream it destroys the tissue at the injection site. It causes excessive drowsiness and rots the skin, earning it the nickname, “the zombie drug”.
No matter where you inject tranq, gashes and severe skin ulcers will appear on different parts of the body. The effects from a tranq overdose can last from eight hours to three days.
The Drug Enforcement Administration warns that tranq has caused some users to lose limbs and have declared it an “emerging threat”. They have labeled xylazine “the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced” and reported seizures of a variety of “tranq” mixtures in 48 out of 50 states.
Schrock says the DEA is working on getting this drug off the streets.
“As we do enforcement actions and we come across it, that's the type of thing that while that’s necessarily illegal at the moment. We take note of it and were working on the emergency scheduling of x so that it would be considered a controlled substance and something that could be prosecuted under United States law.”
The DEA is also requested $11 million dollars to find an antidote and discover how the drug was first introduced into illicit drug supplies.
