‘Zombie Drug’
Law enforcement agencies warn public about drugs laced with animal tranquilizer
SAN LUIS, Ariz. – No such cases have surfaced here so far, but the San Luis Police Department, the Yuma Police Department and the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office are warning the public about a trend among drug abusers elsewhere in the nation to use fentanyl or other drugs mixed with an animal tranquilizer.
Combined with other drugs, xylazine can prolong the high, but also increases the danger of overdose deaths and causes skin ulcers and abscesses that eventually may lead to the need for amputations, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration and American Association of Family Physicians.
Known on the street as “Tranq Drug” and the “Zombie Drug,” xylazine also impedes or prevents the use of Narcan, or naloxone, by emergency medical workers and police to reverse the effects of an overdose of fentanyl or other drug. A non-opioid drug used by veterinarians as a sedative of horses and cattle, xylazine is not approved for human use.
Lt. Marco Santana, spokesman for San Luis police, described xylazine as a new element that makes fentanyl use even more dangerous.
San Luis police in recent years have battled fentanyl use among high school students and others in recent years, but so far have seen no cases in the border city of it or any other drugs being combined with the animal tranquilizer, Santana said.
The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office and Yuma Police Department issued this warning on their Facebook pages:
“Multiple state departments have reported the presence of Xylazine in opioid related overdoses. These drug trafficking organizations are currently running this product through U.S. communities with common street names of ‘Tranq Dope’ and
‘Zombie Drug.’ This substance is not safe for human use and causes deadly symptoms such as excessive sleepiness, respiratory depression, slowed heart rate, skin rotting, and most importantly, these overdoses CANNOT be reversed with Naloxone (Narcan). It is important for parents to talk with children about the facts and dangers of drugs.”
Neither agency reported encountering cases in the area of xylazine being mixed with other drugs, though a Phoenix-area fire department recently recorded two overdose deaths related to xylazine.
Santana likewise urged parents to talk to their children about the dangers of drugs, particularly xylazine.
“I have two daughters who are 15 and 12 and I speak with them constantly. I tell them about the dangers of these kinds of things, and tell them to be very careful about who they hang out with,” Santana said.
“We can’t say, ‘I don’t think anything is going to happen.’ This has to be taken seriously.”