The added drug in question is xylazine, which is commonly used in animals as a tranquilizer. It is especially bad for people to begin with. Use of xylazine often results in abscesses and sores on users. It also is not counteracted by the overdose-reversing drug Narcan. Now, the drug is showing up in overdose statistics centered around Massachusetts.
The veterinary drug has now exploded across the country. There are reports that it’s been discovered in Minnesota. It is also found in the vast majority of drugs in Philadelphia.
Xylazine, also known as “tranq,” has effects so severe that users should expect adverse side effects. The sores noted above have been so severe that users could have limbs amputated.
Synthetic drugs such as xylazine and others may make the already terrible drug epidemic much, much worse. There were at least 110,000 opioid overdose deaths in 2022.
The flood of inexpensive synthetic opioids and the effects of the pandemic made things much worse. Unless our nation gets serious about the drug crisis, things will likely getting worse before they get better.
The rise of narcotics-related deaths in the United States has surged in the last two decades. The overprescribing of powerful opioids has left complete destruction in its wake.
(1/2) TRANQ DOPE: Animal tranquilizer mixed w/ fentanyl brings new horror to opioid epidemic.
Xylazine aka ‘tranq’ is strong enough to sedate a horse & so toxic that it eats away at users’ flesh…@AlexisMcAdamsTV @DanaPerino @BillHemmer pic.twitter.com/fyTN4MObe2
— America's Newsroom (@AmericaNewsroom) January 26, 2023
These powerful drugs are derived from the poppy plant and are related to heroin. For many people, synthetic relatives of heroin, such as fentanyl, are increasingly popular.
The highly addictive nature of heroin and the fact that it and other opioids are relatively cheap has destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives across the country. A unique rural and urban drug wave has been the most destructive in our nation’s history.
Most of these drugs are coming through our southern border. It is up to President Biden or the next Republican president to take a hard stand on border security.
We are facing tens of thousands of deaths every single year when we should be fighting the drug war with all of our might.
