Health experts call on lawmakers to add animal sedative to list of controlled substances
Health officials spoke to members of the NC House Select Committee on Substance Abuse recently about the dangers of Xylazine.
Xylazine is an animal tranquilizer commonly used in veterinary medicine that is not approved for use in humans.
According to animal experts with NC State College of Veterinary Medicine, “Xylazine is FDA approved for dogs, cats, horses, deer and elk as a sedative with shorter period of analgesia and as a preanesthetic agent before local anesthesia.”
In recent years, Xylazine (also called “tranq” or “tranq dope”) has been the subject of FDA warnings because people are mixing it with opioids.
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Nabarun Dasgupta with the UNC Street Drug Analysis Lab is one of those who spoke to NC House members. The scientist has over two decades of experiences in overdose epidemiology and harm reduction.
Dasgupta tells WRAL News that 41% of 516 fentanyl samples collected from 48 different counties in the state tested positive for containing Xylazine.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the largest rise in Xylazine use has been in the South. One report shows between 2020 and 2021 alone, there was a 193% rise in Xylazine instances.
The drug is most often found mixed with fentanyl, heroin and cocaine to increase the weight of the product and prolong euphoric effects.
Timothy Ives with the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy explained Xylazine poses a significant threat to humans as it can make someone sleep for long periods of time, slows heart rate and breathing and creates skin lesions that can become infected.
“Sores are the first line, then there’s necrosis,” Ives explained. “You can see people’s noses that will come off. It causes a necrotic effect that kills the tissue.”
Xylazine abuse was first discovered in North Carolina in 2021 due to skin lesions that formed on a person in Greensboro.
Ives said now, Xylazine “is everywhere” in the state. The pharmacist said he believes the reason why is the lack of laws preventing the sale to non-medical professionals.
“It is not recognized by the federal government, nor is it recognized by North Carolina law, to be an illicit substance,” Ives said.
Ives said making Xylazine a Schedule III drug in North Carolina would help keep it in the hands of only licensed veterinarians.
He also said it could help establish legal grounds for punishment for those found to have it.
Ives continued, “Healthcare providers, law enforcement and public health authorities in every county of this state and beyond really need to know what this drug is and what its negative impacts are on the citizens."
Health experts say most times people don’t know a drug they’ve taken contains Xylazine.
Xylazine is not an opioid, but health experts say you should still administer Narcan to anyone suspected of experiencing an overdose because the medication can still help with the effects of the opioids Xylazine is likely mixed with.
Anyone who believes someone is experiencing an overdose should also call 911 immediately.
