There are warnings about a new drug making the rounds. It's called Xylazine and it's intended for animal use as a sedative and muscle relaxer.
Officials say it is being mixed in with fentanyl and overdose deaths have been reported in Maryland, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
From 2015 to 2020, the percentage of all drug overdose deaths involving xylazine increased from 2% to 26% in Pennsylvania. Xylazine was involved in 19% of all drug overdose deaths in Maryland in 2021 and 10% in Connecticut in 2020.
Philip Van Guilder with Greenhouse Treatment Center in Arlington says the reason it is being combined with fentanyl is that it supposedly makes that high last longer. He cautions 40% of people who use fentanyl will die from it. "It's a real crisis, but then you add the Xylazine to it and you've enhanced the chances of death. The fatality rate would be much greater."
It is also much more difficult to help someone who has ingested Xylazine. "The effects are so much greater that the nalaxone that we typically use with fentanyl is not effective with Xylazine. In fact with Xylazine, you may have to go to mechanical breathing." In other words, the patient may have to be placed on a ventilator.
He says Xylazine, also known as 'Tranq,' has also been found in heroin and cocaine.
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