Dubbed “zombie drugs,” they are exacerbating the opioid crisis.
The animal tranquilizer xylazine is already being recognized as an alarming threat in cities in the US and UK. Now, Mexican public health officials are expressing concern after a study found the presence of xylazine in opioids in a city along the country’s northwestern border with the United States.
Xylazine, also known as “trunk dope” or the “zombie drug,” has exacerbated the opioid crisis in U.S. cities like Philadelphia. Overdoses may be more difficult to treat and the risk of death may increase.
Mexico’s Ministry of Health has issued a warning to medical workers and first responders in the border city. Xylazine is not approved for human use in Mexico or the United States.
according to Mexico’s Ministry of Health issues warning On April 8, the agency worked with the Mental Health and Addictions Commission to “target health care workers and first responders in Mexican border cities where heroin and fentanyl may have been contaminated with xylazine.”
according to news agency Reuters, a study by Mexico’s National Psychiatric Institute found xylazine in 35% of heroin samples and 26% of fentanyl samples tested in Tijuana and Mexico. The ongoing research is not specifically looking for xylazine, but it has highlighted its alarming prevalence.
The findings were announced amid growing concerns about fentanyl use in Mexico. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is responsible for tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States each year.
The study aimed to identify contaminants in drugs and was not specifically looking for xylazine.
“We were surprised to find xylazine,” said Clara Fries, a researcher at Mexico’s National Institute of Psychiatry and lead author of the study.
