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

PENNSYLVANIA— Federal drug authorities are warning people in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania, officials are tracking a rise in xylazine use. Last year, then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro said PA law enforcement agencies must “shift resources and tactics” to better track cutting agents like xylazine and develop enhanced protection strategies.

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 and sores at the injection point or necrosis — the rotting of human tissue — that may lead to amputation.

Philadelphia health officials say the drug was first detected in that city in 2006. The number of fatal overdoses in Philly involving xylazine have increased per year: from 15 in 2015 to 434 in 2021, according to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.

“Drug checking of street opioids in 2022 revealed increasing xylazine, suggesting that xylazine is becoming more well established in the local illicit drug supply,” health officials said.

People might not be aware they are taking xylazine, state health officials said. Severe withdrawal symptoms develop when someone abruptly stops taking the drug, said health officials.

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 Pennsylvania, overdose deaths are expected to be about 7.6 percent lower than previously projected, at 5,116 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.