The United States took action on Tuesday against the illegal entry of xylazine, a powerful sedative for animals that is mixed with fentanyl or other narcotics to form the so-called “zombie drug” or Tranq, which has “life-threatening” effects and can rot the skin.
The health authorities announced restrictions on the illegal entry of xylazine, authorized since 1972 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a veterinary sedative and analgesic, for example to soothe pain in horses and deer.
Xylazine “has been increasingly found in illicit drugs such as fentanyl (…) and has been increasingly detected in overdose deaths” in the country, mired in the worst drug crisis in its history, with 107,735 deaths from overdose or accidental poisoning between August 2021 and August 2022, the FDA says in a statement.
Its use in people is not safe “and can cause serious and life-threatening side effects” since it can “reduce respiration, blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature to critical levels,” the FDA warns.
On the streets it is known as a “zombie drug” because users look like zombies. “People who inject drugs containing xylazine can develop severe skin wounds and patches of dead and decaying tissue that become easily infected and, if left untreated, can lead to amputation,” the US health authorities warn.
