Opioid Mixture Xylazine A Threat In NJ As Feds Issue Warning Over Dangerous Drug

NEW JERSEY — Federal drug authorities are warning people in New Jersey 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 New Jersey, state police reported a “significant increase” in the presence of xylazine submitted for testing to state drug labs in 2022 — in samples suspected to be heroin.

During the first nine months of 2022, only 2 percent of suspected heroin submissions to state forensic labs tested positive for only that drug, said NJ state police. Other suspected heroin submissions were cut with drugs including xylazine and fentanyl.

And in 2021, forensic drug analyzers received more submissions of xylazine for testing than the previous six years, according to state police data.

Xylazine isn’t an opioid, so 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.

The drug has made its way to the illegal drug market in South Jersey and the Philadelphia area, as well, according to The Recovery Village Cherry Hill at Cooper and officials in Camden County.

People might not be aware they are taking xylazine, state health officials said.

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 New Jersey, overdose deaths are expected to be about 3.2 percent lower than previously projected, at 2,988 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.