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Feb 22, 2021 · Fox Nation Links. Lara Logan Has No Agenda - Part 4: Laced With Death: As these drugs arrive to their final destinations in American cities, tragedy awaits. Lara Logan goes inside a DEA...
Feb 26, 2021 · Lara Logan Has No Agenda Part 4: Laced With Death. Lara Logan goes inside a DEA lab where high tech equipment is the only way to distinguish between a legitimate pharmaceutical or one...
- 3 min
Feb 21, 2021 · S5, EP4 "Part 4: Laced With Death" Watch Now. Lara Logan goes inside a DEA lab where high-tech equipment is the only way to distinguish between a legitimate pharmaceutical or one laced with deadly fentanyl. Original Air Date: Feb 21, 2021 FOX Nation 33m. View more episodes.
- Overview
- Does Narcan work on tranq overdoses?
- Fentanyl is more lethal
The number of drug overdose deaths involving a powerful animal tranquilizer called xylazine has skyrocketed in recent years, two new federal reports find. Men were more likely to be using opioids that contain xylazine and to die from opioid overdose than women.
The percentage of fatal opioid overdoses in which xylazine was detected rose by 276%, from 2.9% to 10.9% between January 2019 through June 2022, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Thursday.
Xylazine, also known as "tranq," is an animal sedative not meant for human consumption. It can lull people into a state of unconsciousness for hours, increasing their risk for robbery or assault. It can slow the heart rate and lower blood pressure.
With chronic use, tranq causes dramatic, disfiguring wounds, usually on a person’s legs or arms. It’s not clear why this happens, and it can occur regardless of whether the drug was snorted, smoked or injected, said Dr. Jeanmarie Perrone, director of the Division of Medical Toxicology and Addiction Medicine Initiatives at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Tranq is increasingly found laced in the illegal supply of fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid primarily blamed for 70,601 overdose deaths in 2021, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In March, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration warned about a growing threat from the drug combination, often called "tranq dope," saying that the DEA had seized xylazine and fentanyl mixtures in 48 of 50 states.
The new findings come as drug deaths continue to rise dramatically. A 2022 CDC study revealed that the U.S. had experienced a 30% increase in deadly drug overdoses from 2019 to 2020 — the largest such increase ever recorded.
Naloxone, an emergency lifesaving medicine used to reverse opioid overdoses quickly, is ineffective against xylazine because it is not an opioid.
Experts stress that naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, should always be given in case of any kind of overdose — regardless of whether tranq is also used — because naloxone is extremely effective in reversing the effects of fentanyl.
"What we want naloxone to do is restore breathing, and it still works to restore breathing very effectively, even in the presence of xylazine," Perrone said. "It may not wake the patient up because they may still be sleepy from their xylazine, but that is actually fine. We can get the patient to the hospital safely."
In the CDC study, naloxone was administered in fewer than a quarter of cases, regardless of whether xylazine was ultimately detected.
Connecticut, Maryland and Pennsylvania reported the highest numbers of fentanyl deaths in which xylazine was also found. That could reflect either regional differences in the illegal drug supply or increased monitoring for tranq in toxicology tests.
"We have to be better at testing the different substances that are out there," said Dr. Michael Baca-Atlas, assistant professor of family medicine and psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. "It's so important to understand what the community is using and what's in the drug supply. It can change public health messaging very quickly." Baca-Atlas was not involved with the CDC study.
Still, it's not xylazine that scares experts the most.
"It's 100% fentanyl," Perrone said. "Fentanyl is the first and foremost emerging threat because of its incredible lethality and potency in stopping breathing."
He became preoccupied with the death penalty, and felt that all society was based on murder. Tarrou then became an “agitator,” fighting against executions in many European countries. He still cannot rid himself of his guilt, however, that even indirectly he has caused the deaths of others.
Apr 22, 2021 · Researchers gathered for a conference on addiction this week received a grim update on the growing spread of street drugs laced with deadly synthetic opioids including fentanyl. The trend ...
Sep 13, 2023 · September 13, 2023. 3 min read. New UCLA-led research has found that the proportion of US overdose deaths involving both fentanyl and stimulants has increased more than 50-fold since 2010, from 0.6% (235 deaths) in 2010 to 32.3% (34,429 deaths) in 2021. By 2021, stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine had become the most common drug ...
