A new street drug that is being marketed in Philadelphia, the epicentre of America’s opioid crisis, has doctors baffled. Public health experts are disturbed by its spread and worry about the horrific wounds it causes in its users’ bodies. The substance, which seemed to first appear in Philadelphia before migrating west to San Francisco and Los Angeles, was used for cutting heroin, but, most recently, it has been discovered in fentanyl and other illicit drugs.
Tranq Dope Turning People into Zombies?
Tranq Dope” is a mix of Fentanyl, the opioid that has decimated America’s youth, and the veterinary drug Xylazine. It is sold on the street for just a few dollars per bag. “Tranq is basically zombifying people’s bodies. Until nine months ago, I never had wounds. Now, there are holes in my legs and feet,” a 28-year-old man said. US Public health authorities are horrified by its spread and worried about the terrible scars it leaves on individuals who use it.
Overuse of the drug can lead to rotting skin ulcerations and ultimately limb amputations if untreated, hence its horrifying nickname “zombie drug”. The drug has also been detected in a growing number of overdose deaths.
Xylazine is not a controlled substance; it is marketed as a veterinary drug and used as a sedative, analgesic and muscle relaxant. In humans, it could cause central nervous system depression, respiratory depression, bradycardia, hypotension, and even death. The sedative xylazine is used on horses and cows. With repeated exposure, it can result in sedative-like symptoms such excessive tiredness and respiratory depression as well as open wounds that can quickly get severe. If left untreated, the crusty ulcerations, which can develop into dead skin called eschar, may require amputation.
Because xylazine acts as a tranquillizer, higher doses entirely knock users out. Fentanyl cut with xylazine may lead users to pass asleep and wakeup many hours later, in contrast to opioids’ blissful semi-awakeness. Anyone who uses drugs in this way increases their risk of becoming hurt, such as from a vehicle accident or a sexual assault. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, xylazine is a non-opioid tranquilizer used in veterinary medicine which is not approved for human use.
Symptoms of Zombie Drug
1)Respiratory Depression
2) Excessive Tiredness
3) Develop Dead Skin
Xylazine has been associated with increasing numbers of deaths: From 2015 to 2020, the percentage of all drug overdose deaths involving xylazine increased from 2 percent to 26 percent in Pennsylvania, and was involved in 19 percent of all 2021 drug overdose deaths in Maryland, and 10 percent of 2020 deaths in Connecticut.
Additionally, between 2020 and 2021 alone, the number of xylazine-positive overdose deaths increased by 103 percent in the Northeast, 516 percent in the Midwest, 750 percent in the West and a shocking 1,127 percent in the South, according to DEA figures. Overuse of the drug can lead to rotting skin ulcerations and ultimately limb amputations if untreated, hence its horrifying nickname “zombie drug”. The drug has also been detected in a growing number of overdose deaths.
In Philadelphia, 90 percent of lab-tested dope samples contained xylazine in 2021. The DEA says that the major route of xylazine into the drugs trade comes from veterinarian suppliers online, as it is legal to buy the substance for use in veterinary medicine. It can be bought in liquid form either in vials or preloaded syringes, and is sold by concentration based on the animal it is being administered to. However, the DEA also states that xylazine can easily be bought online from Chinese suppliers in both liquid and powder form and at cheap prices “often with no association to the veterinary profession nor requirements to prove legitimate need.”