Federal lawmakers aim to block horse tranquilizer ‘xylazine’ found in California fentanyl

A powerful horse tranquilizer is at the center of a new federal effort to combat the nation’s rising fentanyl crisis.

The White House recently declared xylazine combined with fentanyl an emerging drug threat in the United States, and here in California.

“To parents, loved ones, community leaders, and those affected by xylazine use,” Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in the designation, “I want you to know that help is on the way.”

The California Department of Public Health alerted local health officers to the presence of xylazine in March. Since then, the CDPH said it was aware of one death as a result of the drug in Santa Clara County. Xylazine is in the drug supply, state health officials warn, but is not yet common or widespread.

Xylazine, also known as “tranq,” has been found laced with fentanyl in San Francisco and San Diego, according to local officials. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has seized xylazine-mixed-fentanyl in 48 states, including California. About 23% of powdered fentanyl examined by the DEA contained xylazine in 2022.

But its prevalence is likely “widely underestimated,” the DEA warned in 2022, because of lacking testing and the similarity of xylazine’s effects to other opioids.

What and where is xylazine?

Xylazine was detected in about 800 drug deaths in the U.S. in 2020. It was involved in more than 3,000 in 2021, according to the DEA.

“This ‘zombie drug’ is one of the scariest I’ve seen,” Rep. Josh Harder, D-Tracy, said. “It doesn’t take much to put someone into a coma. And now that it’s mixed with fentanyl, we could have an even deadlier drug tearing through our neighborhoods.”

Tranq slows human breathing and heart rate and lowers blood pressure. The drug can cause skin and tissue abscesses at both injection spots and elsewhere that could necessitate amputations.

Xylazine is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for veterinary use — never for humans. It is used to sedate a wide range of animals, including horses, dogs and deer. Unlike fentanyl or heroin, xylazine is not a scheduled drug under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act..

Just as when heroin was laced with fentanyl — a powerful synthetic opioid drug used in medical settings for severe pain relief — xylazine is being cut into illicit drugs unaware to many buyers. The increase in xylazine’s presence “may be driven in part by its low cost and lower risk of law enforcement scrutiny as it is not a controlled substance,” the DEA wrote in an October 2022 report.

The DEA warned that xylazine was taking the same path as fentanyl throughout the United States, “beginning with white powder heroin markets in the Northeast before spreading to the South, and then working its way into drug markets westward.”

Xylazine is not an opioid and has not shown that it responds to naloxone the same way that fentanyl does. Naloxone, sold under the brand name Narcan, is used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

What is the federal government doing about illegal drugs?

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. Senate and House are pushing to make xylazine a controlled substance.

Legislation presented by Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, and others would make xylazine a Schedule III drug with the likes of ketamine, aspirin and testosterone. Schedule III drugs are ones that have some medical uses and have less potential for abuse compared to Schedule I or II ones. Regulating it could allow for more research into its properties and prevent it from spreading illegally.

“Although xylazine has legitimate uses in agriculture, we need to prevent it from being misused on the streets,” Panetta said. “My bipartisan, bicameral legislation will provide federal and local law enforcement with better tools to track xylazine, prevent its misuse, prosecute and penalize its illegal traffickers, and, ultimately, help protect our families and communities from the scourge of fentanyl.”

President Joe Biden’s administration has been ramping up U.S. regulation against the opioid epidemic, especially when it comes to fentanyl trafficking. At the State of the Union, Biden reaffirmed the White House’s commitment to cracking down on illegal drug markets and providing more tools against overdose deaths.

The president requested that Congress allocate more than $46 billion to agencies under the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy for next fiscal year, expanding on previous years.

The White House estimates that someone in the United States dies every five minutes from a drug overdose, topping 100,000 lives lost per year. Fentanyl kills more than 70,000 Americans a year, Biden said during the State of the Union.

How to respond to an overdose

Even though xylazine is not an opioid, officials say to use naloxone to reduce or reverse effects of the drugs its mixed with. The CDPH recommends reading the Overdose Prevention Toolkit for the most current information on handling an opioid overdose.

If you think someone is overdosing, follow these steps:

▪ Call 911 and give naloxone.

▪ Keep the person awake and breathing.

▪ Lay the person on their side to prevent choking.

▪ Stay with the person until 911 responders arrive.