what to know about xylazine, the 'flesh-eating' drug known as tranq that has come to canada
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xylazine, a “flesh-eating” drug said to make users look like zombies, has plagued the streets of los angeles and other u.s. cities, with images of people strung out on the drug going viral.
the technically legal animal tranquilizer commonly referred to as “tranq” is often used to cut cocaine, heroin or fentanyl. as it gains popularity in the illegal drug market, contributing to a growing number of overdose deaths, u.s. states are increasingly looking to restrict access to it.
the drug enforcement administration (dea) along with health departments have issued warnings against the use of the drug. but, while the issue is most pronounced in los angeles, canadian officials have also warned that tranq is showing up on our streets.
here’s everything you need to know about tranq, why it’s called a flesh-eating zombie drug, and how canada and the u.s. are trying to control it.
what is xylazine?
xylazine is an approved veterinary medicine used as a sedative for large animals. its trade names include rompun and anased. it is also known as a “horse tranquilizer.”
it requires a veterinary licence for purchase and use but is increasingly showing up in canada’s illicit drug supply, often without the user’s knowledge. other drugs are cut with xylazine since it is a cheap filler that can increase the potency of opioids.
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what does tranq do to people?
xylazine causes sedative effects in humans. it reduces pain and slows brain activity and can lower blood pressure, heart rate and breathing rate.
people who use xylazine can also suffer from open wounds anywhere on their body. these wounds can lead to hospitalization, necrosis — the rotting of flesh — and even amputation, which is why it is called a zombie drug.
the wounds caused by the drug make it appear as though it is “eating away your flesh from the inside out,” nurses told stat news.
drugs such as fentanyl that have been cut with xylazine also have an increased risk of overdose. according to health canada, xylazine can lead to central nervous system depression, respiratory depression, bradycardia and hypotension in humans, similar symptoms of opioids.
“when combined with opioids like fentanyl, as is frequently the case, xylazine enhances the life-threatening effect of respiratory depression (slowing or stopping breathing) caused by opioids, increasing the risk of overdose and death,” according to los angeles public health officials.
unlike fentanyl, there is no medication or antidote to reverse xylazine overdose, the way naloxone does for opioids. experts still advise that naxolone be given in the case of a xylazine overdose in case there are opiods present.
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is tranq in canada?
according to health canada, xylazine was first found in drugs seized by police in 2001, but it only really started to appear in significant quantities starting in 2019.
there were only five cases of xylazine found in drugs submitted for testing by law enforcement agencies in 2018, but that spiked to 205 the next year. the drug analysis service identified tranq 2,324 times between january 2012 and december 2022 — 536 in 2021 and 1,350 last year. ontario leads the pack, with about 62 per cent of identifications since 2012, while british columbia had 21 per cent and alberta 12 per cent.
almost all (93 per cent) of the exhibits found to contain xylazine were in powder form and 79 per cent were cut with between two and four other substances, most often caffeine (96 per cent) and fentanyl (92 per cent). flualprazolam (a sedative/hypnotic) was found in 28 per cent of samples.
last week, the calgary herald reported that xylazine has plagued the city’s illicit drug market.
harm reduction advocate brandy myette, the provincial outreach manager for alberta alliance who educate and advocate responsibly (aawear), said the current supply of fentanyl seems to be cut with non-opioid drugs such as benzodiazepines and xylazine.
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as a result, naloxone, a medication used to reverse or reduce the effects of opioids, has become less effective in mitigating overdoses.
“we’ve had people having to do cpr because people are going into cardiac arrest and naloxone isn’t doing anything,” she said.
health officials in ontario have also recently issued warnings.
“using newly available testing strips, xylazine has been detected in local supplies of cocaine, opioid products, and crystal meth,” says dr. thomas piggott, peterborough’s medical officer of health. “xylazine was found in several drug samples tested at the consumption and treatment services (cts) site between april 29 and 30. peterborough public health is now issuing a public alert to ensure that people who use drugs in our community are able to make informed decisions about their use in order to reduce harms and save lives.”
in march, ottawa public health issued a warning about xylazine and benzodiazepines in illegal drugs sold in ontario.
ontario’s office of the chief coroner had recorded no deaths from xylazine before 2020 but 128 tranq-related deaths were recorded over a two-year period in 2021 and 2022, ctv reported.
how are u.s. states responding?
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many u.s. states have instilled various measures to mitigate the spread of the substance.
pennsylvania has added xylazine to the state’s list of controlled substances in an effort to tighten regulations on the drug and allow authorities to charge people who violate those rules.
“we are giving greater tools to law enforcement and others to properly regulate, control and contain these drugs, make arrests and hopefully prosecutions,” democratic gov. josh shapiro said at a news conference in philadelphia.
in march, ohio’s republican governor signed an executive order restricting xylazine through the state’s board of pharmacy, and west virginia’s republican governor signed legislation to make it a controlled substance.
the designations in pennsylvania, ohio and west virginia allow veterinarians to continue using the drug to sedate animals, but it puts veterinarians under tighter regulations on how it must be handled, tracked and stored.
“xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier,” said anne milgram, dea administrator. “dea has seized xylazine and fentanyl mixtures in 48 of 50 states. the dea laboratory system is reporting that in 2022 approximately 23 per cent of fentanyl powder and seven per cent of fentanyl pills seized by the dea contained xylazine.”
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national post, with additional reporting by the associated press
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