Another powerful animal tranquilizer is being mixed into street drugs, added to illicit fentanyl and other opioids to prolong users’ high.
The drug, called medetomidine, has been linked to a recent spate of fatal overdoses in the Midwest and Northeast. The drug dramatically slows breathing, heart rate and blood pressure, and reduces brain and spinal cord activity. It is not intended for use in humans.
“The types of contaminants we’re seeing are really concerning,” said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical officer for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. “Drugs are becoming more dangerous.”
Medetomidine is more powerful than a similar animal sedative called xylazine (also known as “tranq”), which has become widely used in the United States over the past few years.
NPS Discovery, an organization that studies illegal drugs, said medetomidine Maryland could open as early as July 2022.
The drug is apparently moving west: It has been found in toxicology tests of three people in Michigan who died of drug overdoses, according to state health officials. He said ThursdayThe incidents occurred in different parts of the state and are unrelated.
Last month, health officials Chicago Medetomidine has been linked to an increase in overdoses, the first time it has been detected in the city. The sedative has been found in combination with opioids such as fentanyl, nitazon and heroin, as well as the sedative and anti-anxiety drug alprazolam (Xanax).
of Philadelphia Department of Public Health It was also reported that medetomidine had arrived in the city in May. Pittsburghtoo.
According to a Philadelphia health alert, people who take the drug may remain sedated for at least three hours.
Linda Cotler, director of the National Drug Early Warning System, which monitors emerging drug use trends, said sporadic reports of the drug are expected to become more widespread as it continues to circulate across the country.
Kotler’s team has not yet seen any signs of medetomidine becoming widespread.
“It’s like a trickle, a drip, and then it finally explodes,” Kotler says. “That’s how the drugs move.”
The increase in medetomidine use comes amid a slight decline in overdose deaths: More than 107,000 people died from drug overdoses last year, down from about 111,000 in 2022, according to a recent report.
Medetomidine is of particular concern because its effects cannot be reversed by drugs such as Narcan (also known as naloxone), and there are no test strips that can detect it.
“It seems to be a new trend to add sedatives, tranquilizers and other non-opioid drugs to fentanyl, which makes opioid recovery much more complicated,” said Joseph Palamar, associate professor in the department of tobacco, alcohol and drug use at New York University Langone in New York City and associate director of the National Drug Early Warning System. “If this keeps people sedated, how are we going to reverse an overdose with naloxone?”
Still, experts continue to urge people to use naloxone in case of an overdose.
“We don’t have a specific way to reverse medetomidine, but we do know that it has been found in combination with opioids such as fentanyl,” Bagdasarian said. “Our main goal here is to prevent overdose deaths. As the drug supply becomes more and more dangerous, we have to be more innovative and try to stay one step ahead of the problem.”
