US health authorities announced Tuesday measures to better control the importation of a product used as a tranquilizer in animals but increasingly found in drugs consumed by humans, with devastating consequences.
Xylazine, authorized since 1972 by the American Medicines Agency (FDA) as a veterinary sedative and analgesic, is used to calm animals, such as horses, to facilitate handling or against pain.
But in humans, xylazine can slow “respiration, blood pressure, heart rate” and reduce “body temperature to critical levels,” the FDA warned.
The height of horror: its consumption can cause “breaks in the skin and patches of dead and rotting skin”, even in places other than the injection level, he added. These wounds “can easily become infected and, without treatment, lead to amputation.”
“Zombie Drug”
Xylazine, also known as a “tranquility” or “zombie drug,” is increasingly being found in the United States in combination with other drugs, such as fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, or cocaine. Users are not necessarily aware of its presence in their drug.
It is particularly widespread in the northeast of the country. According to one study, 26% of fatal overdoses in Pennsylvania in 2020 involved xylazine, and 20% in Maryland, a neighboring state to the capital, Washington.
Of greatest concern: Naloxone, an antidote that can resuscitate a person in the process of overdosing on an opioid, is not effective against the effects of xylazine.
“public health problem”
Experts still recommend trying to give naloxone to anyone who overdoses, since the two drugs can be taken together. It’s hard to tell the difference between an overdose caused by xylazine or an opioid like fentanyl.
It is a “growing public health problem,” the FDA said.
The “import alert” launched will put deliveries of xylazine “under increased surveillance by the FDA”, which may seize them in case of non-compliance with the law.
In particular, the FDA will ensure that products, whether the pharmaceutical ingredients used to make xylazine or the finished product, are “properly labeled, unaltered, and for legitimate veterinary use.”
“This action is part of a larger effort by the agency to address this issue,” FDA Chief Robert Califf said in the statement. The agency says it is working with partners at the local and federal levels, and has promised to keep the public informed about the progress of the work being done.
Source: BFM TV
