(NewsNation) — The U.S. has named veterinary tranquilizer xylazine, known by some as “tranq,” an “emerging threat” when it’s mixed with fentanyl. Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, says helping people on “tranq” makes fentanyl management look like a “walk in the park.”
Gupta said withdrawals from “tranq” are some of the worst he has seen in his 25 years of practice. The dangerous withdrawals coupled with an increase in usage and the uncertainty of no specific treatment medication fueled the “emerging threat” designation.
“Managing people with this makes fentanyl management look like a walk in the park unfortunately. So it’s really important for us to make sure that we are developing those systems,” Gupta told NewsNation’s Natasha Zouves during an appearance on “NewsNation Prime” Sunday evening.
Gupta says “tranq” use is not confined to certain cities or regions, “it’s all over the country now.”
The DEA reported seizing “tranq” and fentanyl mixtures in 48 out of 50 states. Last year, the agency says around 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl pills seized by the DEA contained xylazine. They warned Americans about a “sharp increase” in the trafficking of fentanyl mixed with the powerful sedative.
That’s why Gupta is making it his mission to be sure doctors, prescribers and medical providers in the ICUs across the nation develop a system and know how to manage withdrawals.
“What we will see is people’s oftentimes they will have severe respiratory trouble. They will have severe anxiety, sweating, pain all over the body and they will do what they need to do to prevent that,” Gupta said of withdrawals. “And then management includes making sure that we’re monitoring the vitals for example the blood pressure, the heart rate, breathing rate, because any one of those could be in jeopardy when we’re talking about a person withdrawing from it.”
Federal officials say mixing “tranq” and fentanyl places drug users at a higher risk of suffering a deadly drug poisoning. Those injecting mixtures including “tranq” are also at risk for developing necrosis —the rotting of human tissue—that may lead to amputation.
Xylazine is not an opioid, so naloxone does not reverse its effects. Experts still recommend administering naloxone if someone might be suffering an overdose.
Gupta’s office is requesting $11 million to come up with a strategy to combat the spread of “tranq,” develop an antidote for it and look at whether Congress should classify it as a controlled substance.
“One of the reasons we are ringing these bells for emerging threat designation is to make sure that we are moving forward fast enough to get more testing (…) We also want to develop these treatment and management protocols. We want to make sure that we understand the illicit supply chain without compromising the veterinary supply, the legitimate supply, so we can go after the people who are trying to mix this in to the other drug supply,” Gupta said.
In 2020, “tranq” was involved in about 800 drug deaths in the U.S. According to DEA data, “tranq” was detected in more than 3,000 drug deaths by 2021.
The CDC reports that 107,735 Americans died between August 2021 and August 2022 from drug overdoses.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration hosts a confidential, free, 24-hour national helpline that can be reached at 1-800-662-4357.