An « emerging threat », that’s how the USA has described xylazine, the substance nicknamed « tranq » which is wreaking havoc in the country.
Known as the « zombie drug » or » tranq dope », this drug is so dangerous that it was designated by the White House on April 12 as the « deadliest drug threat » the United States has ever known.
In recent years, the country has been faced with an explosion in the consumption of xylazine, an animal sedative whose use was hijacked in the early 2000s. Today, it is coupled with fentanyl, a synthetic analgesic that is already wreaking havoc on health.
A drug that turns victims into zombies
The videos that abound on social networks are enough to give you goosebumps. Men and women are seen dragging themselves like zombies through the streets of major American cities, their eyes haggard and their gait undead, their bodies contorted in improbable positions and their skin covered in lesions.
The effects of this drug are extremely powerful…
Considered to be 50 times stronger than heroin, this product acts on breathing and lowers heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature « to critical levels ».
In addition to loss of attention, extreme sedation and possible hallucinations, it also causes serious lesions on the skin which can become necrotic, sometimes leading to amputation!
The other danger of this drug is its price ($6), which makes it very accessible.
The United States faces a new health crisis
Responsible for a third of all overdose deaths in the United States, and mainly affecting young people and those from modest backgrounds, this new drug epidemic also comes at a particularly sensitive time, as the country undergoes an opioid crisis.
The stakes are therefore high for US health authorities, especially as there is currently no treatment for xylazine overdose, not even naloxone, the specific opioid antidote.