'Tranq' Use In MA: Feds Issue Warning Over Fentanyl Mixture

MASSACHUSETTS — Federal drug authorities are warning people in Massachusetts about a sharp increase in trafficking in a deadly new fentanyl cocktail that is cut with the common veterinary sedative xylazine, also known as “Tranq.”

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in a public safety alert Monday that xylazine “is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier.”

In Massachusetts, Worcester County DA Joseph Early Jr. said last year that the effects of the sedative xylazine cannot be reversed by overdose-reversing medications like Narcan. So far, the sedative has been found mixed with cocaine, heroin and fentanyl in the area.

"Xylazine, a sedative not approved for human use, is not an opioid but can compound the effects of opioids by causing drowsiness, amnesia, slow breathing and heart rate, and dangerously low blood pressure," Early's office said in a news release.

One expert said last month that New England is likely to become the "epicenter" of sales of the drug, according to Boston.com. Already, around a third of illicit street drugs in the region contain the veterinary sedative.

Because Xylazine isn’t an opioid, the overdose reversal drug naloxone — Narcan — doesn’t work, putting users at a greater risk of overdose, the DEA said. Tranq causes a range of other serious medical problems, including severe wounds at the injection point or necrosis — the rotting of human tissue — that may lead to amputation.

According to CNN, the White House is looking at xylazine as a potential “emerging threat,” meaning they would develop a federal plan to address it.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates two-thirds of all drug overdose deaths in the United States are fentanyl-related. Previously released provisional data may have undercounted drug overdose deaths due to reporting delays, the agency said.

Now, with the revised data, the CDC projects that 4,500 more people than previously thought may have died of overdoses from the 12-month period ending in October 2022. According to the most recent projections, 107,689 people died of drug overdoses during the period.

In Massachusetts, overdose deaths are expected to be about 5.63 percent higher than previously projected, at 2,685 people who lost their lives to illicit drugs.

In 2022, nearly a quarter (23 percent) of all fentanyl powder and 7 percent of all fentanyl pills seized in investigations contained xylazine, the DEA said. Xylazine and fentanyl mixtures were seized in 48 of 50 states.

See related: Drug Overdoses In Worcester County May Worsen Due To New Drug: DA