The horse tranquillizer xylazine is being added to fentanyl to make a dangerous drug even worse. This has been happening for a few years but the ubiquity of xylazine has shot up precipitously. I just received an update at work and xylazine is present in 80+% of OD deaths attributed to fentanyl. It’s not an opioid so “narcan” doesn’t work and there is essentially no way to reverse a xylazine/fentanyl OD.
I was shocked at the prevalence. I’m not usually shocked at the actions of addicts; but this blew my mind for some reason. Talk about rolling the lethality dice.
Talking to a narcotics detective, who was also surprised at the prevalence of xylazine, she passed along the following, straight from an active addict’s mouth: (I paraphrase) when we hear about dope that’s killing people, we all want it because we know it’s good stuff.
Traveling the country has me seeing the druggies coast to coast. They always exhibit the same traits. One that really intrigued me was the hunched over thing. Searched it up a few months back and found out about the horse tranquilizers that get them that way.
I haven’t seen much if any carfentanil (yet). The ubiquity of xylazine is what surprised me the most. We have seen a decline in the effectiveness of narcan and the presence of xylazine is one of the reasons why (we suspect).
It’s curious, maybe inevitable, but the easy availability of narcan has anecdotally led to increased fentanyl use.
Traveling the country has me seeing the druggies coast to coast. They always exhibit the same traits. One that really intrigued me was the hunched over thing. Searched it up a few months back and found out about the horse tranquilizers that get them that way.
What do you do to travel coast to coast where you are seeing so many people on drugs?
We may have gotten here anyway, who knows, but it’s sad we all kind of sat back and let Purdue Pharma, the Sackler family, and pharma reps/doctors profit at the expense of our vulnerable. They created the path to where we are. Profit over social responsibility. We should strive for better.
If you know – what is the motivation of the suppliers/dealers? Is this cheaper to make than pure fentanyl? Is it (even) more addictive?
Product differentiation would be my guess
I recall a doco a few years back where a dealer proudly admitted to making one baggie out of each batch super strong, knowing that someone would OD and/or die, and then word would get around that he had the good shit and the dead guy was just a pussy.
airline pilot… we stay “downtown” most places. I see homeless most everywhere these days and I assume most of them are on drugs.
(the hunched over ones I know for certain are on tranq)
If you know – what is the motivation of the suppliers/dealers? Is this cheaper to make than pure fentanyl? Is it (even) more addictive?
I asked the detective (who is our agency SME on all things fentanyl) the same question. She said it supposedly prolongs and intensifies the fentanyl high. So, product improvement and marketing. One would think significantly increased lethality would be a negative and yet here we are.
If you know – what is the motivation of the suppliers/dealers? Is this cheaper to make than pure fentanyl? Is it (even) more addictive?
I asked the detective (who is our agency SME on all things fentanyl) the same question. She said it supposedly prolongs and intensifies the fentanyl high. So, product improvement and marketing. One would think significantly increased lethality would be a negative and yet here we are.
Seems like it would ultimately be bad for business. Dead people don’t buy more drugs.
airline pilot… we stay “downtown” most places. I see homeless most everywhere these days and I assume most of them are on drugs.
(the hunched over ones I know for certain are on tranq)
As a veterinarian for military working dogs that need sedation for most care, I use an injectable drug combo with the same two classes (alpha 2 agonist like xylazine and a pure mu agonist like fentanyl). I can get surgical plane level with this combo where the one drug offsets the side effects of the other. For example, the xylazine like drug deepens unconsciousness without the breathing or blood pressure problems I’d have with more of the opioid. I would run into more problems if I just gave more of a single drug.
The good news is that there is a complete and quick reversal drug for xylazine called yohimbine or atipamezole, brand name Antisedan. Antisedan with Narcan as wake up juice is my favorite work party trick.
As a veterinarian for military working dogs that need sedation for most care, I use an injectable drug combo with the same two classes (alpha 2 agonist like xylazine and a pure mu agonist like fentanyl). I can get surgical plane level with this combo where the one drug offsets the side effects of the other. For example, the xylazine like drug deepens unconsciousness without the breathing or blood pressure problems I’d have with more of the opioid. I would run into more problems if I just gave more of a single drug.
The good news is that there is a complete and quick reversal drug for xylazine called yohimbine, brand name Antisedan. Antisedan with Narcan as wake up juice is my favorite work party trick.
Really?! That’s very interesting. Do the dogs wake up with a boner?
“Yohimbine is a prescription drug (brand name Aphrodyne) sold in the United States for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.”
It would derail the thread if I described how much #3 fluid these young intact male shepherds provide when excited by seeing a Kong toy as their training incentive to jump up on the exam table.