The DEA warned of the increase in the consumption of fentanyl in the United States

by time news

The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) alerted this Monday that it has seized mixtures of xylazine, known as Tranq or zombie drug, with fentanyl in almost all of the United States. DEA “has seized mixtures of xylazine and fentanyl in 48 of 50 states” of the country, reports the agency in a statement.

Xylazine, a sedative for veterinary use, “It is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier,” DEA Director Anne Milgram said, quoted in the note.

At least 107,735 Americans died between August 2021 and August 2022 from drug intoxication, 66% of them from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, up to 50 times more potent than heroin.

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Fentanyl is manufactured primarily at facilities of Mexican cartels, particularly the Sinaloa Cartel and the Cártel Nueva Generación (CJNG), with precursor chemicals sourced from China.

According to the statement, in 2022 approximately 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl pills seized by the DEA contained xylazine, known on the streets as a “zombie drug” because users resemble zombies.

Mixture of xylazine and fentanyl increases users’ risk of “lethal poisoning” but, since xylazine is not an opioid, the antidote known as naloxone “does not reverse its effects”, states the statement. Even so, experts recommend administering it to people who suffer an overdose.

people who inject mixtures of drugs that contain xylazine can develop serious wounds, even necrosis, that is, the skin rots, forcing limbs to be amputated, alert US health authorities.

The last time the DEA issued a public safety alert was in September 2021, when it warned of a rise in fake pills laced with fentanyl.

In November 2022, he updated it, warning that six out of ten fake pills mixed with this opioid contain a potentially lethal dose.

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