Animal tranquilizers make street drugs more dangerousExBulletin

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Sedatives that are only approved for use on animals are appearing in illegal street drugs. WBUR’s Martha Bebinger says xylazine may contribute to overdose and death.It should also be noted that this article contains graphic descriptions of medical conditions. .

Kyle: May I grab that water?

Martha Bebinger, Byline: Near the Vermont border in Greenfield, Massachusetts, a man named Kyle approaches a van and delivers safe supplies for drug use. Kyle, who uses cocaine, says something else seems to be in it lately.

KYLE: Because if you cook and smoke, you will fall asleep immediately.

Bebinger: Kyle pauses when he sees the warning about xylazine. Suddenly his experience makes sense.

KYLE: We’ve all been scratching our heads over what’s going on. There was a lot of drama.

Bebinger: Kyle only uses his first name because he buys illegal drugs. Xylazine slows breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate. It’s included in about half of the drug samples recently tested by Tapestry Health, which operates the van.

AMY DAVIS: I probably started looking at xylazine about a year ago, but it’s been up quite a bit lately.

BEBINGER: You mean in the last month or two?

Davis: Yes.

Bebinger: Tapestry’s Amy Davis says overdoses have also increased in the last month or two. Although there is no evidence that xylazine is responsible, there is reason to believe that mixing xylazine with other drugs, perhaps to prolong the drug to high concentrations, increases the risk of overdose and death. Colleagues are changing the way they respond to overdose. Davis is still giving Narkan, but don’t expect them to wake up anytime soon.

DAVIS: We don’t want to focus on consciousness. I want to concentrate on my breathing.

Bebinger: Dr. Bill Soares is an emergency room doctor in western Massachusetts. He says Narcan is still important because xylazine is usually mixed with opioids.

Bill Soares: But definitely I recommend EMS. Because if the person doesn’t wake up as expected, more advanced care is needed.

BEBINGER: Dr. Laura Kehoe is an addiction specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital. She says the trauma patients experience during deep xylazine sedation is a major concern.

LAURA KEHOE: Someone has been sexually assaulted. They wake up to find that their pants are down or their clothes are missing, and they have no idea what happened.

Bebinger: Kehoe et al. are also concerned about an increase in serious injuries associated with xylazine.

KEHOE: Let me show you a picture of what I think xylazine is doing.

Bebinger: Outside a Harm Reduction van in Greenfield, nurse Katie Robbins retrieves a photo of a patient’s arm.

Katie Robbins: I happened to see this person in April. And yes we kind of went. what is that?

Bebinger: Mysterious wounds look like deep road rashes with exposed tendons and spreading infection. Robbins says her clients can get same-day appointments with doctors.

Robbins: They can and they won’t because there’s so much stigma and shame around injecting drug wounds. .

Bebinger: That may be one reason why drug user amputations have increased in Philadelphia. Xylazine is present in over 90% of the samples tested there. One patient described xylazine withdrawal symptoms as a feeling of being trapped in a burning room. Figuring out how to treat levels of anxiety is one of the challenges ahead.

NPR News is represented by Martha Bebinger of Greenfield, Massachusetts.

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