New Washington Drug Cocktail Found More Dangerous than Fentanyl

There is a new drug cocktail found in Washington State that is even more dangerous and addictive than fentanyl that the FDA is warning about. Have you heard of it?

What is This New Dangerous Drug Cocktail the FDA is Warning About?

There is a new drug called "tranq dope" that is a mixture of an animal tranquilizer called xylazine and the already dangerous drug known as fentanyl. The mixture has been traced to the Philadelphia area in 2006 and is originally from the Puerto Rico drug trade according to State News. By the year 2020, the drug was responsible for 1 in 5 overdose deaths investigated involving fentanyl.

What Makes Tranq Dope So Dangerous?

The drug is so powerful that it first knocks the user out for hours and then causes much stronger overdoses or even death. The drug xylazine also doesn’t respond to naloxone and that causes large skin ulcers that can lead to amputations of fingers and toes for users. A woman described to Vice what trying to come down off tranq dope was like, and why it is so bad. Not only do people overdose easily, but users that survive have very strong withdrawals like "vomiting, intense heart palpitations, chills, and a complete lack of energy" for almost a full month. That is almost 10 times longer than the withdrawals from heroin.

Where Has Tranq Dope Been Spotted in the USA?

The drug cocktail has been spotted in 38 states including Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon State. You can see the full list of states the drug is found by clicking to the CDC website here. The age groups that were found to have the drug were largest between ages of 25 to 54 according to the CDC study. Most detox centers do not even test for xylazine and have no idea how to treat people suffering from withdrawals, so they usually get the wrong treatment.

Why is Xylazine Easy to Purchase?

Even though the drug is not approved for humans, xylazine is not federally scheduled and that makes it readily available to be purchased online. At first, the drug was mostly mixed with fentanyl but is now found in almost every drug including cocaine and other opioids according to the report by Vice. Find out more about what the CDC has to say about this drug now found in the northwest on their website by clicking here.