- Xylazine is a muscle relaxant and anesthetic commonly used in horses and is flooding the market as a substitute for fentanyl.

- They call it the 'flesh-eating' drug because of the sores and infections it causes in the body.

Xylazine is the drug, which as tranq, is consumed in the US.

"Horse anesthesia", "the meat-eating drug"... The 'tranq', the penultimate drug that breaks into the US opiate epidemic

Dopesick, a magnificent series, has recounted the terrible drama of opioids in the United States. In the last 20 years, 500,000 Americans have died of overdose due to consumption of this type of drug. Doctors from all over the country have prescribed legal medicines for years that have ended up turning the patient into an addict, as happens to the doctor that Michael Keaton plays in the series. The latest novelty to this chemical scourge is "tranq", another drug, but in this case for animals that are adding overdose deaths to this authentic opiate epidemic in the US.

In the case of drugs for humans, the addiction is initially to the legal drug prescribed by the doctor. People start using it looking to relieve back pain or a recurring migraine, but without knowing the real risks. Among its side effects, we now know, is addiction.

Then, when the drug is no longer available on prescription, it is bought on the black market; and when it is not even possible to acquire it, the addict jumps directly to street drugs, basically fentanyl or heroin. From the light of the doctor's office to the darkness of the worst streets of each city.

Over the past 20 years, 500,000 Americans have died of opioid overdoses.

In just one year (from 2020 to 2021), overdose deaths in the US increased by 28.5% and almost 108% since 2015, when 48,126 deaths were recorded. Fentanyl is behind 64% of those deaths, 49% more than the previous year.

Opioids have killed half a million people in the US in the last 20 years. / UNSPLASH

China was the main manufacturer of this substance, 50 times more powerful than heroin. The US government pressured Beijing to curb its production. And so, in 2019 the Chinese authorities ended up doing it. The result was that on the streets of the United States, addicts had to fight for their lives to discover a substitute.

Horse anesthesia: a three-hour "death"

In this way, "tranq" has emerged, a drug that has been consumed in Puerto Rico since the beginning of the century, where it is known as "horse anesthesia." And that's what it's all about, literally.

The so-called "tranq" is actually a drug; a tranquilizer intended for animals, often used in horses and dogs as a muscle relaxant and anesthetic. It's called xylazine and it's flooding the fentanyl and heroin market, in places like Philadelphia, Delaware, and Michigan, according to the New York Post.

It is much more intense than fentanyl. You feel like you're literally going to die."

A report published this month in the journal Science Direct shows that "tranq" is now found in 91% of Philadelphia's heroin and fentanyl supplies. Xylazine was also implicated in 19% of all overdose deaths in Maryland in 2021 and 10% of those in Connecticut the year before, according to federal authorities.

Flesh-eating drug 'tranq' meant for animals now linked to thousands of heroin, fentanyl ODs https://t.co/smHomKoenz pic.twitter.com/FkYUaCqYb0

— New York Post (@nypost) September 25, 2022

But the "tranq" seems to leave almost dead those who consume it. Vice magazine spoke to Sam Brennan, a 28-year-old addict. He tells what it's like to take a shot of this drug: "It's much more intense than fentanyl... You feel like you're literally going to die." Brennan says it's "like a three-hour process: you go out, you wake up and you're sick."

Bill, another 59-year-old user, explains that xylazine renders him unconscious for three hours and causes an outbreak of sores. Wounds and a significant increase in soft tissue infections, bone disease, and amputations have also been reported. This is why they call it the 'flesh-eating' drug.

People sticking needles anywhere... Philly is sinking because of the 'tranq'"

"It's something I've never seen anywhere else. People everywhere, sticking needles anywhere... passed out. Philly is going down because of the 'tranq'," says Brennan.

NEW: A dangerous street drug called “tranq” has infiltrated Philadelphia’s opioid supply. Users are developing horrific wounds and in some cases their fingers and toes are being amputated: https://t.co/F5S7tjUhWl

— VICE News (@VICENews) March 22, 2022

The sedative effects of xylazine are so powerful that, for example, a person can suffocate just by lying face down on a pillow, explains Joseph D'Orazio, a professor of medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia.

After xylazine, nitazene

First heroin, then crack, later fentanyl, and now "tranq." A large percentage of Americans are being lost down the drug drain. "It's a tragic milestone," President Joe Biden said last year, after learning that more than 100,000 people have died in that country from overdoses between April 2020 and April 2021.

But the drug market in the US does not stop offering alternatives when fentanyl or "tranq" are not within reach. Thus, experts warn of the arrival on the streets of a drug more powerful than xylazine. It's the nitazene.

It is a class of synthetic opioids, which can be up to ten times more powerful than fentanyl. Data from the Tennessee Department of Health show an increase in fatal overdoses related to nitazene. In 2019 there were none in this state; in 2020 there were 10; and in 2021, 42 nitazene overdose deaths were recorded.

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