New ‘zombie drug’ called tranq brings more overdoses to Florida, AG says. Here’s why
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman held a news conference on Wednesday morning to warn Floridians about the dangers of xylazine, also known as “tranq” or “zombie drug.”
Moody spoke about the prevalence of the drug in Sarasota, Manatee and Desoto counties and the likelihood of residents not even knowing they’ve come in contact with the drug, which can cause large skin lesions that can lead to amputation of limbs and death.
Xylazine has been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for use in animals as a sedative and pain reliever. But despite the fact that it is not safe for people to use, xylazine has become a popular cutting agent among drug dealers and users of fentanyl, heroin and other illegal drugs.
Last month, the Drug Enforcement Administration issued a warning about the fatal outcome of mixing fentanyl and xylazine.
“It’s cheap, it is easily accessible, and drug users often mix it with fentanyl, leaving users in the dark about what they are actually taking,” Moody said.
According to Moody, Sarasota County has the third-highest growth in xylazine deaths in Florida from 2021-22.
“More than 230 Floridians died after using Tranq, and over 30 of them were in Sarasota,” Moody said. “Sarasota has the third-largest increase in xylazine deaths in the state.”
The 18- to 45-year-old age range is experiencing the highest overdose rate.
“These drugs have no warning labels; instead, it is buyer beware, and if you are wrong about whatever is in the drugs, the price you could pay will be your life,” she said.
The combination of the two drugs also makes fentanyl even deadlier than it is on its own.
“Even if you do not die, people who use xylazine are developing rotting skin lesions, their limbs are rotting away from the injection of this substance — some have had their limbs amputated.”
Meanwhile, Hoffman discussed the drug situation in Florida and Sarasota County.
“Here in our agency, our drug lab has detected xylazine in over 150 of the drugs we tested in the calendar year,” said Hoffman.
DEA statistics show that in the south region of the United States, which includes Florida, xylazine deaths increased from 116 to over 1400 from 2020 to 2021.
“It’s important that we protect our citizens and that we try to make sure that they’re not being exposed to fentanyl or xylazine because we’re losing a lot of citizens to these dangerous drugs,” Hoffman.
State Attorney Ed Brodsky also spoke and reiterated that it isn’t just a national issue but a local one.
“Xylazine is prevalent here. When I spoke to the medical examiner here, when we look at the drug overdoses and fatal overdoses in Sarasota County, we see xylazine present in those autopsy results,” Brodsky said.
Another concern is that xylazine resists Naloxone or Narcan, which is used to reverse narcotic overdoses.
While Naloxone or Narcan is still effective in preventing drug overdoses for opioids, when Xylazine is in the mix, the patients are not responding to it.
Overdose patients who do not react to Naloxone or Narcan because they have xylazine in their system have created a new problem for first responders, Moody said.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent in Charge of the Fort Myers Region Eli Lawson spoke Wednesday about how xylazine has become more prominent across the state.
“When xylazine was first introduced as a controlled substance in 2016, we had less than two dozen cases that year. Fast forward to the first quarter of 2023, and we were on track for 650 cases this year alone,” Lawson said.
Lawson said that in just two years, xylazine became the sixth most commonly encountered substance in the FDLE Chemistry Lab, right behind more common drugs like heroin and cocaine.
This story was originally published April 5, 2023 at 6:13 PM.
