The last time Legal Insurrection covered xylazine, a horse tranquilizer known to slam the nervous system and destroy skin tissue, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had announced that the substance was linked to dozens of deaths across New York.
It turns out xylazine is now hitting the West Coast, especially the Los Angeles area.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officials launched a new program to track the troubling prevalence of the substance, which is a sedative typically used by veterinarians to anesthetize animals.Also known as “tranq” or “tranq dope” on the streets, xylazine has become increasingly present in the illicit drug supply. The drug can be cooked down into a powder form and mixed with illicit opioids such as heroin and fentanyl or pressed into counterfeit pills or sedatives.The “zombie drug” nickname stems from the substance’s known effect of rotting the skin.Growing concerns over the increasing prevalence of xylazine in L.A. have law enforcement officials and addiction specialists extremely concerned.“I’ve never seen anything like what we’re dealing with right now,” said Cary Quashen, an addiction expert.
One of the most significant concerns associated with xylazine at this point is that it is increasingly being mixed with the opioid fentanyl. The combination can have devastating effects, and overdoses do not respond well to opioid treatments.
Researchers say that fentanyl, which has largely replaced heroin in many markets, is powerful but fast acting. The xylazine gives it “legs,” extending the feeling of sedation by slowing one’s heart rate, breathing and blood pressure. Many users don’t realize their drugs contain xylazine, which can knock them out and make them susceptible to falls, robberies or rapes.Because it is not an opioid, xylazine does not respond to naloxone, the drug commonly used to revive people who are overdosing from opioids….The drug is used by veterinarians to sedate animals, particularly cattle and horses, but has never been approved for use by humans. It popped up in illegal drugs in Puerto Rico in the early 2000s, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Over the last five years, it spread to the Northeast, particularly Philadelphia, where it has infiltrated more than 90 percent of street drugs, according to the Center for Forensic Science Research & Education, which posts an online early warning system about the latest drugs.The DEA says its labs have now detected xylazine in drug seizures in 48 states. The number of xylazine-positive drug samples in the South, including Florida, rose by nearly 200 percent from 2020 to 2021, the agency reported.
Federal drug enforcement officials are trying a new approach in dealing with the xylazine’s spread: Treating it as an emerging threat.
After failing to grasp and react to the danger of fentanyl quickly enough to stop the wave of death it caused, federal officials want to avoid repeating their mistakes with this new drug.Last month, the Biden administration designated xylazine mixed into fentanyl as an emerging threat, trying to get ahead of the drug as its illicit use continues to spread across the nation.This marks the first time that label has been used since Congress approved its creation in 2018, so what happens next could indicate whether the United States has made true strides in its drug policy since the fentanyl crisis began.
Given the track record of the Biden administration, whatever they do will be too little, too late. Expect more “zombies” as the Biden apocalypse unfolds.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY