Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) placed five compounds that are commonly found in K2 on its list of illegal substances, to help clamp down on sales. But manufacturers responded by tinkering https://sober-home.org/rebuilding-your-life-after-addiction/ with the chemicals to sidestep the regulations. The most common side effects in humans include bradycardia, respiratory depression, hypotension, and brain blood flow and oxygen changes.
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Some versions of the drugs are illegal and are sold on the street, but the versions that are legal are sold in stores, where their glitzy packages marketed to young people may make them look mainstream, natural and safe, Scalzo noted. But the herbal blends, which may resemble potpourri, “can make people do what they normally would not do either to themselves or to others,” Scalzo said. Since intranasal naloxone is ineffective against xylazine, getting the patient to an EMT or emergency room is critical for respiratory support and even prolonged resuscitation, as xylazine’s effects can be long-lasting. When individuals use drugs contaminated with xylazine, they seem heavily sedated or unconscious, with droopy eyelids and a vacant gaze. Their movements and speech are slow and uncoordinated, and the person appears in a trance.
Tranq, the new ‘zombie’ drug that causes skin rotting, is fueling overdoses across the U.S.
According to the Texas Poison Centre Network, flakka – or alpha-pyrrolidinopentiophenone (alpha-PDP) – is a drug mostly manufactured in China for roughly $5 per dose. The drug is sold in white or pink crystal chunks, which are “foul-smelling”, according to the US National Institute on Drug Abuse. It is sometimes called “gravel” because it resembles the small stones in the bottom of fish tanks. They had seen it before, in the shape of attacks carried out by drug users under the influence of flakka or bath salts, a powerful man-made drug.
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Moreover, according to the US FDA, Routine toxicology screens do not detect Xylazine, making it really difficult to pin it as a cause in cases of drug overdose. But although its dangers may have been exaggerated, taking the drug is risky – it is addictive and can cause fatal overdoses. The latest attack and speculation, however, seem to reinforce the idea that cannibalism is symptomatic of taking drugs like bath salts or flakka. But the incident itself is isolated, and it remains unclear whether or not Harrouff was actually on flakka. Flakka is a psychostimulant drug in the synthetic cathinone family, known colloquially as “bath salts”, and it was probably developed as a legal high in response to other drugs being criminalised.
- New figures show a shocking rise in deaths on US streets linked to a drug which rots the skin of those who use it.
- When combined with opioids, which are also nervous system depressants, the risk of a deadly overdose is increased.
- “We will not hesitate to act to keep the public safe. Following advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), we intend to make xylazine a Class C drug.”
- Xylazine overdose is commonly encountered in combination with fentanyl, but it has also been detected in mixtures containing cocaine, heroin, and other drugs.
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The TPCN explains that the active chemical can cause “excited delirium”, which results in hyperstimulation, paranoia, and hallucinations that can lead to “violent aggression”. Given the availability and widespread distribution of the drug, however, if it turned users into cannibals, there would be more reports of such instances publicly available. The illegal global xylazine https://sober-home.org/ market has so far mostly seen it mixed with strong opioid drugs, such as heroin or fentanyl. It also lowers breathing and heart rate to dangerously low levels, which has led to it being dubbed a “flesh-eating zombie drug”. The death of a 43-year-old man is the first in the UK to be linked to the “zombie” drug xylazine, which is prompting overdose warnings in the US.
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The monthly percentage of detected fentanyl-involved deaths with xylazine rose from 2.9% in January 2019 to 10.9% in June 2022, a 276% increase. Although Pennsylvania, and especially Philadelphia, is ground zero, dramatic increases in fentanyl/xylazine overdose are found throughout the U.S. The British Columbia Interior Health authority is warning street-drug users of a synthetic cannabinoid that has been linked to a so-called “zombie” outbreak in New York.
In addition to the tremendous variability in the type and amount of compounds from batch to batch and product to product, spice users may not be familiar with the amount of the drug needed to get high, D’Souza. This may cause people to use too much of this potent drug, which can also provoke altered behavior, he said. Fentanyl overdose itself causes respiratory depression, and overdose-related respiratory depression is a neurological emergency that may lead to brain hypoxia, brain cell loss, and, at worst, coma and death. Although all opioid overdoses can induce brain hypoxia, the danger is magnified with fentanyl/xylazine and related drugs.
We’re still learning what tranq does to users, either on its own or in conjunction with fentanyl and other opioids. But public health agencies can’t go to work until they know what they’re fighting—and in the battle against the zombie drug, the need for more information is a call to arms. On its most basic level, tranq is the latest development in the evolution of street drug composition, in part because it’s so easy to get and it’s relatively inexpensive. People who use drugs sometimes don’t know it’s part of what they’re taking even after they have become addicted to it. Xylazine—also known as “tranq” or sometimes referred to as the “zombie drug”—is a medication approved only for veterinary use to sedate animals such as horses and dogs.
They’re short on information, screening, surveillance, drug monitoring and virtually absent of policy—and based upon the numbers, that will almost certainly have to change. As the effects of the drug combination wear off, people can experience symptoms of xylazine withdrawal. These include discomfort, anxiety, insomnia, elevated heart rate and elevated blood pressure.
If injected directly into someone’s bloodstream, it can cause large open skin ulcers to form. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Xylazine, a depressant, was discovered as an antihypertensive agent in 1962 by Farbenfabriken Bayer in Germany. The drug was used to sedate animals in the late 1960s and is still used in horse and cattle surgeries. “That’s what we need so that all ‘for profit’ places go away. There are recovery houses that are so bad – throwing people out because they can’t find a job to pay fast enough.”
In addition, the hypoxic effects of heroin and fentanyl are significantly changed by recent consumption of alcohol, benzodiazepines, ketamine, medetomidine, or xylazine. During that initial appearance of tranq on the streets in 2006, health authorities recorded only a handful of overdose deaths in which the drug was present. By 2021, more than a third of all overdose deaths in the city had xylazine detected in their toxicology tests, according to Jennifer Shinefield a field epidemiologist with the city. What makes the ‘zombie drug’ so dangerous is that if you overdose on Xylazine mixed with fentanyl, eroine, or other illicit drugs.
Xylazine is a strong α-2 adrenergic agonist medication that was initially developed for use in veterinary medicine as an analgesic and sedative for animals. Its primary goal is to calm down animals undergoing medical procedures or testing while minimizing their suffering. Despite being used for veterinary purposes, xylazine has raised concerns because it is increasingly being misused by human populations. Because of its opioid-like sedative and euphoric effects, xylazine has become popular among illicit drug users. Xylazine is a popular recreational drug, especially when mixed with other drugs to intensify its effects. Xylazine addiction has quickly grown into a global concern with serious repercussions that are seen in 2023.
New figures show a shocking rise in deaths on US streets linked to a drug which rots the skin of those who use it. Sometimes mixed with fentanyl, xylazine – often referred to as Tranq – has spread across the US at an alarming speed and has devastated communities there. Yes, there are test strips that use the exact same kind of technology as pregnancy tests. But the problem is that given the prevalence of xylazine in the illicit drug supply, it might be hard to find a product that doesn’t have any, says Nelson.
The newest products on the street can cause low blood pressure and a slow heart rate, and may even result in coma, seizures and kidney damage, he said. Treatment of xylazine overdose primarily involves treating symptoms and maintaining respiratory function and blood pressure. Recommendations are to give high-dose naloxone and assess for adequate breathing. Intravenous fluids, bladder catheterization, and/or mechanical ventilation may become necessary.
It is thought that when used in combination with opioids like fentanyl, it can elongate the effects of the high. It’s difficult to overstate how incompatible the drug is with human consumption. One of the reasons researchers and government agencies don’t know more about xylazine’s health impact on people, in fact, is that clinical trials were long ago abandoned because the side effects were so dangerous. Its presence in drug-related deaths rose from 0.3% to 6.7% between 2015 and 2020, according to a 2022 report published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
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