DEA, local officials sound alarm about xylazine
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- This week, the Drug Enforcement Administration warned that a surge of fentanyl mixed with xylazine could make the opioid epidemic even more deadly.
Xylazine is a tranquilizer used on horses and cattle, but when mixed with fentanyl, can extend the opioid's high, according to Dr. Ben Weston, chief health policy advisor for Milwaukee County.
"The thing about fentanyl is that it's real strong, but it's also fast on, fast off. The reason for xylazine is to prolong those effects out," he said.
The mixture is proving dangerous. Weston says the number of overdoses that are xylazine-related is steadily growing in Milwaukee County
.@mkemedexamine data shows that xylazine was in fentanyl overdoses in @mkecounty ...
— Ben Weston MD MPH ? ? (@BenWWeston) January 12, 2023
1.0 % in 2020
7.9 % in 2021
10.4 % in 2022
In Philadelphia, it is in nearly 100%.
2/4
The federal government is rushing to act. The FDA moved to restrict illegal imports of the drug, and Jeffrey Singer, senior fellow, health policy studies, CATO Institute, told the House Judiciary Committee about xylazine's awful side effects.
"It can cause tissue death and deadly soft tissue ulcers. Some also become so severe, so severely infected that surgeons must perform lifesaving limb amputations. What makes xylazine even more deadly is that it's not an opioid," he said.
Because xylazine is not an opioid, test strips do not detect its presence, and the lifesaving drug Narcan is ineffective against it.
"Xylazine causes the same problems that opioids do, it causes you to stop breathing," Dr. Weston said.