Biden unveils plan to combat fentanyl laced with xylazine overdoses

The Biden administration announced plan To Eliminate the Growing Fentanyl Threat Tuesday Xylazinean illegal street drug cocktail causing a wave of overdose deaths.

Fentanyl is a highly potent synthetic opioid with unique properties. soaring death toll. Xylazine, aka “”quietis an inexpensive veterinary sedative not intended for human consumption.

The plan is the administration’s first concrete action to address this dangerous combination. declare It’s April’s New Threat.

It’s also based on President Joe Biden’s policies National Narcotics Control Strategy — aimed at tackling the addiction and overdose epidemics in this country — and his administration’s Other initiatives To crack down on illegal fentanyl.

Dr Rahul Gupta of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said: “Despite working to save lives from illegal fentanyl, the current administration is very vigilant about changes in the supply of drugs like xylazine. said Dr. Rahul Gupta, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Call with reporters on Monday.

The plan directs several federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, to expand access to testing, prevention, and overdose recovery resources. It also aims to disrupt the illegal xylazine supply chain.

These agencies have 60 days to prepare and submit an implementation report to the White House.

The plan’s long-term goal is to reduce xylazine-positive drug overdoses by 15% in at least three of four U.S. Census regions by 2025.

Xylazine was found in nearly 11% of fentanyl overdose deaths by June 2022, according to the report. report The number of cases reported by the CDC last week has risen dramatically from about 3% of cases in January 2019.

“The rate of xylazine-related deaths continues to rise, which is of great concern. All of these numbers are tragic,” White House domestic policy adviser Neela Tanden said in a call with reporters. “They represent individuals, families and communities torn apart.”

The United States has been battling the opioid epidemic for years, and xylazine only adds to it.

Drug traffickers often mix tranquilizers with fentanyl to prolong the duration of opioid effects such as relaxation and euphoria. However, dealers sometimes use xylazine as a cheap bulking agent to increase the supply of fentanyl.

Xylazine can be very damaging to the human body, causing severe skin ulcers, soft tissue scars, necrosis (sometimes described as rotten skin) in drug users, and can lead to amputation. I have.

Fentanyl with xylazine poses several health threats, including severe hypoventilation, the development of serious injuries, and extreme withdrawal symptoms.

To address these health challenges, government plans will develop and deploy a treatment framework for xylazine-exposed patients. It involves identifying the most effective practices for withdrawal management and clinical stabilization, or returning patients to a level of stable functioning.

The plan will also assess and deploy overdose reversal strategies available to health care providers, first responders, harm reduction staff, drug users, and community bystanders.

These strategies will focus on respiratory support, hands-only CPR, and the use of naloxone, the first drug approved in the United States to reverse an opioid overdose.

Naloxone, marketed as Narcan, is effective against fentanyl, but may respond poorly to xylazine because the tranquilizer is not an opioid.

Still, Gupta said, “I want to emphasize that these drugs should be used regardless.”

The plan also aims to strengthen testing for the other drug xylazine.

According to the plan, this will include developing and licensing rapid test strips for clinical use and rolling out tests at “all levels of the supply chain, from wholesale seizure volumes to regional retail levels.”

It also includes standardization of testing practices across medical examiners, coroners, public health laboratories and drug analysis laboratories.

“Currently, there are community and law enforcement inspections, but it’s not enough,” Gupta said in a call. “More testing is needed.” Gupta said xylazine can be purchased from online vendors in China and Puerto Rico. Gupta said some drug traffickers mix xylazine and fentanyl in Mexico “to a lesser extent.”

Another major part of the plan is to identify the specific source of xylazine and determine whether the tranquilizer was diverted from legal sources or synthesized for illegal use. is. The plan would also strengthen the Biden administration’s ability to regulate the xylazine supply chain while maintaining the availability of the sedative for legal use in research animals.

The plan also says the government will explore potential regulatory options to stop the production, distribution and sale of illegal xylazine.

This could include xylazine usage schedules under the Controlled Substances Act, which specifies the grading of tranquilizers according to their risk of abuse.

The administration will also consider possible steps to prosecute those who manufacture, import, export, sell or distribute xylazine to support fentanyl trafficking.

The final two elements of this plan are to expand research activity on fentanyl with xylazine and to develop an epidemiological data system to track the spread and impact of this combination.

The “good news” is that many of the actions outlined in the plan are “already underway,” Gupta said.

For example, the Drug Enforcement Administration in March warned The American public has seen a surge in trafficking of fentanyl mixed with xylazine.A month earlier, the FDA Limited Illegal entry of xylazine into the United States