The ongoing fentaNYL crisis is in the spotlight with the us Senate Judiciary Committee hearing testimony, lawmakers and health advocates are joining forces to root out the drug that officials say is causing more than 50,000 deaths each and every year. Here’s health reporter testimony about fentaNYL that officials say may be especially eye opening for parents. They say some young people end up taking fentaNYL when they think they’re getting their hands on Adderall or oxyCODONE or Percocet, *** prescription drug. But when in fact, it is filled with fentaNYL. Six out of 10 of those pills are *** fatal dose. Uh the cartels that are creating these pills, uh and that are distributing them within the United States uh are, are the most horrid individuals. Uh You can imagine and unfortunately, um they are doing it on social media advertising as if they are prescription pills. Us Attorney General Merrick Garland says the DEA drug enforcement administration is urging social media companies to share information with them about ads pushing fentaNYL known to be up to 100 times more potent than morphine. Meanwhile, two advisory committees to the FDA want to broaden access to the medication that can reverse opioid drug overdoses, naloxone known as Narcan and make it available without *** prescription. If the FDA agrees, Narcan will be on shelves at stores and gas stations E M T s are well versed in how it works. Narcan is *** lifesaving drug that we can give in the field and basically immediately reverse *** fatal overdose in *** period of about 2 to 3 minutes. I’m health reporter Gillian Knapp And that’s your news. 12 health report.
DEA issues alert about widespread threat of veterinary tranquilizer xylazine
Updated: 7:49 AM MDT Mar 21, 2023
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration issued an alert Monday about the widespread threat of fentanyl mixed with xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer also commonly known as “tranq” or “tranq dope.””Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in the alert. “DEA has seized xylazine and fentanyl mixtures in 48 of 50 states. The DEA Laboratory System is reporting that in 2022 approximately 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl pills seized by the DEA contained xylazine.”According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 100,000 Americans died from drug poisonings between August 2021 and August 2022, with 66% of the deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl.Xylazine is not approved for human use. It has heavy sedative effects like an opioid, but it isn’t one, and it doesn’t respond to the opioid overdose antidote, naloxone, also known as Narcan.Fentanyl is a fast-acting opioid, and users say that adding xylazine can extend the duration of that high, said Joseph Friedman, a researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles.When combined, fentanyl and xylazine can make drug overdoses even deadlier, the DEA says.Additionally, people who inject drug mixtures containing xylazine may develop severe necrotic skin wounds that may lead to tissue death and amputation.Experts recommend giving naloxone to people who may be overdosing on a drug, and consider xylazine exposure if the person doesn’t respond to naloxone.Xylazine is in all 50 states but is most concentrated in Philadelphia, according to Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.The White House is looking at xylazine as a potential “emerging threat,” which would trigger the development of a federal plan to address it, he said. In the meantime, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it has taken action to stop unlawful imports of xylazine.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration issued an alert Monday about the widespread threat of fentanyl mixed with xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer also commonly known as “tranq” or “tranq dope.”
“Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in the alert. “DEA has seized xylazine and fentanyl mixtures in 48 of 50 states. The DEA Laboratory System is reporting that in 2022 approximately 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl pills seized by the DEA contained xylazine.”
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 100,000 Americans died from drug poisonings between August 2021 and August 2022, with 66% of the deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
Xylazine is not approved for human use. It has heavy sedative effects like an opioid, but it isn’t one, and it doesn’t respond to the opioid overdose antidote, naloxone, also known as Narcan.
Fentanyl is a fast-acting opioid, and users say that adding xylazine can extend the duration of that high, said Joseph Friedman, a researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles.
When combined, fentanyl and xylazine can make drug overdoses even deadlier, the DEA says.
Additionally, people who inject drug mixtures containing xylazine may develop severe necrotic skin wounds that may lead to tissue death and amputation.
Experts recommend giving naloxone to people who may be overdosing on a drug, and consider xylazine exposure if the person doesn’t respond to naloxone.
Xylazine is in all 50 states but is most concentrated in Philadelphia, according to Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
The White House is looking at xylazine as a potential “emerging threat,” which would trigger the development of a federal plan to address it, he said. In the meantime, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it has taken action to stop unlawful imports of xylazine.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
