According to reports, a new drug has emerged as a public threat per the warning of San Francisco authorities following 4 confirmed overdose deaths attributed to the drug.
“They identified four overdosed decedents, in which they identified xylazine, which is a veterinary tranquilizer in the toxicology of those people, who died of drug overdoses, in addition to fentanyl,” said Dr. Jeffrey Hong with the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
Xylazine, known on the streets as "tranq," is normally used only to treat horses. One of the major side effects of prolonged use of xylazine in humans is the potential for severe lesions and abscesses. What's more, tranq is believed to be resistant to Narcan or naloxone, the drug used to reverse opioid overdoses.
The drug has been on the streets for years on the east coast, but is now popping up in cities across the country. Another major city being hit with tranq is Chicago. "The increase in the incidence of xylazine is concerning because it is not an opioid," said Cook County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Ponni Arunkumar. "So it does not get affected by naloxone that is used to reverse fentanyl. It is not as potent as fentanyl but it kind of makes the effects of fentanyl worse."
Per ABC 7, "An I-Team data analysis found xylazine-related deaths in Cook County tripled from 2020 to 2021, going from 42 to 125. In 2022, those numbers climbed again by nearly 20%."
Source: Youtube.com
