What is Tranq? ‘Zombie drug’ Xylazine found in cannabis vapes linked to 11

A powerful animal tranquiliser has penetrated the illegal drugs market in the UK, a report has warned, as the substance is linked to 11 deaths.

Researchers from the National Programme on Substance Abuse Mortality at King’s College London sounded the alarm in a statement on Wednesday, warning the drug will spread to a “much wider” population of people who use drugs beyond heroin users.

What is xylazine?

Xylazine is a typical veterinary medication used to sedate, anaesthetise, relax muscles, and relieve pain in animals like horses, cattle, and other mammals.

It is sold under many trade names worldwide, including Rompun, Anased, Sedazine and Chanazine and has made its way into the drug market for human use in counterfeit prescription medication tablets, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) vapes and cocaine.

When mixed with fentanyl, heroin or other opioids, xylazine is known by its street names “sleep-cut”, “zombie drug”, “Iso” and “tranq dope”.

It is dangerous to humans because it causes dangerously low blood pressure, and slows breathing and heart rates that can result in death.

Direct injection into the user’s bloodstream eliminates the need for re-dosing, however, it can result in large open skin ulcers.

Where does it come from?

While it is traditionally used for animal sedation and not approved for use on people, Xylazine started infiltrating the US drug market, mainly Puerto Rico, in the early 2000s, where it is known as “anestesia de caballo,” which translates to “horse anaesthetic”.

According to a 2022 Joint Intelligence Report by the US Drug Enforcement Administration and Department of Justice, it appears to be following the same path as fentanyl, a synthetic opiate that is estimated to be over 50 times more powerful than heroin.

The White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy declared Xylazine mixed with fentanyl an “emerging” threat in April of last year. A few months later, the White House released a National Response Plan to tackle the threat.

Xylazine-related drug overdose deaths totalled 102 in 2018, 627 in 2019, 1,499 in 2020, and 3,468 in 2021, the US National Centre for Health Statistics reported last year.

Fentanyl was detected in 98 per cent of xylazine-related deaths, suggesting a strong link, with Philadelphia recording the highest xylazine prevalence data (25.8 per cent of deaths), followed by Connecticut (10.2 per cent) and Maryland (19.3 per cent), according to science platform Science Direct research.

Where has xylazine been found?

Xylazine is now “widespread” in the UK’s illicit drug market, researchers from the National Programme on Substance Abuse Mortality at King’s College London said in a study published in the journal Addiction.

It has been linked to the death of a 43-year-old man from Solihull, West Midlands, in May 2022 – the first such case recorded outside of the US and the first connected to xylazine use in the UK.

There have been 16 positive tests for the drug, including 11 linked to fatal incidents, the researchers found, after collating evidence of xylazine detections in biological samples from summer 2023 across UK laboratories.

“We now know that xylazine has penetrated the UK’s illicit drug market. This is cause for alarm as a much wider population of people who use drugs beyond heroin users will be exposed to its harms,” said senior author Dr Caroline Copeland from the School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Co-author Dr Adam Holland from the University of Bristol said: “The emergence of xylazine in the UK drug market, as well as the proliferation of potent synthetic substances is extremely concerning.”

Dr Holland added the UK’s “punitive drugs laws” are failing to tackle the issue.

How can it be stopped?

According to Dr Holland we need to broaden the spectrum of harm reduction measures available to drug users, including drug checking and overdose prevention centres.

However, the UK Government is blocking the introduction of such centres despite efforts by the Scottish Government to open one in Glasgow to tackle record drug deaths and an HIV outbreak, according to the Transform Drug Policy Foundation non-profit.

Overdose prevention centres are not mentioned in the Government’s 10-year drug strategy despite widespread evidence of their efficacy, The Lancet journal noted in a 2022 report.