The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has issued an alert warning about the widespread danger of fentanyl mixed with xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer. The DEA's Laboratory System reported that in 2022, around 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl pills seized by the DEA contained xylazine. Xylazine has heavy sedative effects like opioids, but it is not approved for human use and does not respond to the opioid overdose antidote, naloxone.
Xylazine is present in all 50 states, and users who inject drug mixtures containing xylazine may develop severe necrotic skin wounds that may lead to tissue death and amputation. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 100,000 Americans died from drug poisonings between August 2021 and August 2022, with 66% of the deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl. DEA Administrator Anne Milgram warned that xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier. The DEA and the White House are considering xylazine as an emerging threat, which may trigger the development of a federal plan to address it.