2023-06-20 20:01:57
Dependent on opioids for years, Martin has watched the deadly and addictive fentanyl replace heroin in New York. He now he wants to avoid falling into a new drug that eats away at tissues and causes deep wounds in the skin: the “trans”the latest concern in America.
“Eats your tissues”, says this 45-year-old man during a visit to the St. Ann’s Corner of Harm Reduction Center, an association for helping drug addicts that has been operating since the 1990s in the Bronx.
Their scars on arms and legs suggest that probably have taken xylazine unknowingly a powerful sedative and pain reliever for animalsalso popularly known as “zombie drug”.
The “zombie drug” is bought online
Considered by the White House as an “emerging threat” in the countryIt is easily obtained online.
It often contains fentanyl, the synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin and the leading cause of the death of 110,000 people by overdose in 2022 in the country. A record.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the number of fatal overdoses containing xylazine it went from 260 in 2018 to 3,480 in 2021.
Homeless people use fentanyl in Los Angeles. Photo: AP
Although Philadelphia is listed as the epicenter of the “zombie drug”, in New York 19% of opioid overdoses -419 deaths in 2021- contained this compound, according to official data.
Because fentanyl is a short-acting opioid, the hypothesis “is that xylazine is added to prolong its effects“, explains Courtney McKnight, associate professor of clinical epidemiology at New York University.
In addition to skin wounds, abstinence or “monkey”, causes “strong” anxiety attacksadd.
Fentanyl is mixed with tranq to make the narcotic effect last longer. Photo: AP
Martin try to avoid this cocktail that “knocks you out” for hours.
How are the skin wounds caused by xylazine
In the outings with their truck through the streets of the Bronx to provide medical supplies, carry out tests for the detection of fentanyl, deliver food or simply give advice and comforting words to people in extreme difficulty, the health personnel of St. Ann’s have verified the growing number of people with the terrible wounds What causes this substance?
St. Ann’s health personnel have noted the growing number of people with the terrible injuries caused by this substance. Photo: Angela Weiss/ AFP
“People say that small bruises begin to appear or black spots and then it’s as if the tissues died in the affected area,” explains Jazmyna Fanini, a nurse at the center.
Fanini shows a photo he took of a patient on the street. Her skin has multiple wounds, which they can get “to the bone”.
“Sometimes need to be amputated or skin grafted“he adds.
The United States is experiencing a health crisis due to the opioid epidemic. Photo: Guillermo Arias / AFP
The United States is experiencing a health crisis due to the opioid epidemic.
At St. Ann’s, the visitor comes across a paper tree taped to a wall, which leaves are added as a person dies from an overdose.
In New York, the number of fatal overdoses in 2021 rose to 2,668, 80% more than in 2019, as a result of fentanyl and the pandemic, which triggered risks due to the isolation of drug addicts, with a higher incidence among populations of African Americans and Hispanics.
There is no antidote for xylazine
The city and associations trust naxolone, a nasal spray antidote, to reverse fentanyl overdose. But xylazine, which slows breathing and heart rate, complicates it.
Authorized for animals, this drug does not have “controlled substance” status at the federal levelsuch as hard drugs, which complicates the work of investigators, according to the special prosecutor for narcotics in New York, Bridget Brennan.
“Even if we find a large amount, we can’t chase anyone” which makes it impossible to “get to the origin” or know how “is distributed in large quantities“, Explain.
Staff at St. Ann’s attribute the appearance of new mixes to policies that criminalize drug addicts.
“We will continue to find this type of substance as long as the real problem is not attacked, which is not having a safe product“explains team boss Steven Hernandez.
“In this situation, people are getting poisoned“, laments.
The center participates in a New York City program that allows users to test their drug for risks. The initiative will also allow the city’s health services to follow the evolution of the illegal market in real time.
“It is still possible to avoid xylazine, it is not yet proliferating on the market,” explains Leonardo Domínguez Gómez, a researcher at the New York City Department of Health.
“The way the city delivers messages and carries out public health campaigns will have an impact on the situation,” he warns.
The authors are AFP journalists
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