TRANQ DOPE ZOMBIES
Desperate US addicts in grip of fresh drug wave Experts warn Britain of incoming xylazine flood
THROUGH the unforgiving streets of Philadelphia, hordes of addicts shuffle painfully in search of their next fix.
But these zombified souls in the city’s Kensington neighbourhood are not victims of America’s opioid crisis; they are a symptom of something more sinister.
They are using a drug more potent and perilous than deadly fentanyl, harder to treat than opioids. It is called xylazine, or tranq.
Now experts in the USA are warning Britain to brace for a wave of tranq, which has already seeped on to our streets.
According to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, xylazine has been detected in a number of deaths in the UK.
Philadelphia drug worker Kristen Schmidt believes the greatest cure for addiction is prevention.
She said: “The tranq epidemic is a crisis of huge proportions, an issue that threatens to devour entire communities.
“Most importantly, we must confront the root causes of addiction – poverty, traumas, lack of opportunity – that drive individuals to seek solace in substances.
“If Britain is to learn anything from Philly, it’s to act quickly and to move decisively in stopping the drug and its growth on its streets.”
LIFELESS
A hit of tranq leaves users zonked out for hours, either bent double on their feet or lying lifeless on the pavements. When they regain consciousness, their skin is left ravaged by its side-effects.
Addict Daniel Cannon, 32, is originally from Greenville, North Carolina. By his own admission, the former cook is “a poster boy for tranq” Britain would do well to see.
“My drug addiction has cost me everything,” he told me. “My family, my home, my wife, almost my life.
“I have lost count of how often it has taken me to death’s door.”
The drug has rotted his flesh away to the bones in his right arm, exposing his radius and his ulna.
It seems impossible for anyone to bear the pain of such wounds. But Daniel’s $3 “sprinkles” of daily tranq numb the excruciating pain.
He said: “I’ve tried to get help for my arm. But I’ve injected so much into it, I have given up on it. My left arm is quickly catching up.
“Anyone in your country needs only take one look at me to see why they should never touch it, no matter how deep their temptation.”
The 72 steps leading to Philadelphia’s Museum of Art, made famous by Rocky Balboa, still welcome thousands of visitors.
But dozens now veer away from
the downtown attraction for a more sinister kind of sightseeing.
“Tranq tourists” visit the city’s skid row to see for themselves the addicts, huddled together in their improvised tents around their makeshift fires.
Xylazine is a non-opioid sedative, painkiller and relaxant, used primarily by vets to tranquillise large animals. It is powerful enough to knock out an elephant.
The allure of its potency, its ability to plunge users into a state of sedation and euphoria with just a single hit, is too much for many to resist.
And because it’s not an opioid, its effects cannot be reversed by emergency medication, resulting in more fatalities.
The proportion of deadly overdoses in which it was detected rose by 276% between January 2019 and June 2022, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Users develop large open ulcers on their skin, and each dose slows their breathing and heart rates.
In a country already reeling from the devastating toll of an opioid crisis in left-behind neighbourhoods like Kensington, it has emerged as the new deadlier threat.
Here, amidst the crumbling buildings and shattered dreams, users flock to score their next fix, paying just a few dollars for a drug that hooks them almost instantly.
The streets here are littered with little orange needle covers which have been discarded after people have shot up. There is rarely any discretion in sight, as drugs are openly used and passed around in plain view.
Fears are that the UK is heading towards a similar fate, as overdoses in which tranq is detected steadily increase – such as Karl Warburton, 43, who died in his Solihull home in 2022 from a cocktail of drugs including xylazine. The US opioid crisis has already taken hold in Britain. Last week, the Mirror reported on reformed drug dealer turned street pastor Mick Fleming, 58, warning of a similar crisis developing in this country around drugs called nitazenes.
He said: “We’re seeing hardcore drug users overdose and die.”
Schmidt said she prayed Britain would act quickly to prevent tranq from spreading, pointing to the advantage of UK’s status as an island nation.
She says: “If your Government, police, border forces and health agencies can do that collectively, your country will be far better placed.
“The best way is to stop it from ever reaching your shores.
“Philadelphia may be ground zero of America’s tranq epidemic, but we can also be the centre of its recovery.”
Anyone needs only look at me to see why they should not touch it
DANIEL CANNON ON THE RAVAGES OF TRANQ