16 May 2023 , 11:53
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A terrifying flesh-rotting "zombie drug" which "gruesomely disfigures people" is spreading across Los Angeles, according to health experts.
Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Bill Bodner said authorities are in a race against time to try and halt the street drug known as “tranq."
The medication is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use by vets but it is not safe for human use and can cause flesh-rotting sores.
The drug, which is also known as the animal tranquilliser xylazine, can lead to skin and muscle rotting away if mixed with illegal drugs such as heroin and fentanyl.
"It’s really gruesomely disfiguring people," said Mr Bodner.
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People are being warned about the dangers of the drug (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)“It’s much more likely to stop someone from breathing and the things that come along with xylazine, it’s a vasoconstrictor. So when you’re injecting it, it’s actually reducing the blood circulation,” Mr Bodner told KTLA.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office initially started a program to track how dangerous the drug is after authorities confirmed it wasn't an illegal substance.
The program started in mid-April when crime analysts started to notice signs of xylazine in seized drugs.
A homeless woman who has just arrived from the midwest smokes fentanyl outside her tent in San Diego (The Washington Post via Getty Images)The trial is due to carry on another month before officials decide how to respond to the flesh-eating drug.
Declaring a "widespread threat", DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said: “Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier."
The deadly drug is spreading across the US.
Ms Milgram said: “DEA has seized xylazine and fentanyl mixtures in 48 of 50 states.”
The "zombie drug" is spreading across Los Angeles (KTLA)DEA LA Field Division spokesperson Nicole Nishida told The Los Angeles Times: “In the greater Los Angeles area, we are seeing xylazine as an additive within fake fentanyl pills.
“While the numbers are relatively low in our community compared to elsewhere in the United States, the presence of xylazine is now becoming more frequent and the trend is concerning.”
Meanwhile, one addiction expert commented he’s “never seen anything like what we’re dealing with right now.”
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Drugs seized by law enforcement (KTLA)Cary Quashen said one victim passed away from a fentanyl overdose when her skin suddenly started to rot.
He said: “We had a woman come in and her sister had passed away from a fentanyl overdose.
“But not only was it a fentanyl overdose (but) her skin was starting to rot, the muscles on her leg and her arm. So that’s a sure sign of xylazine."
Those who overdose on xylazine do not respond to any known antidote, according to an FDA warning.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 107,735 Americans died between August 2021 and August 2022 from drug poisonings.
Out of those deaths, 66 per cent involved synthetic opioids like fentanyl.
One of the worst hit cities in the US for the xylazine crisis is Philadelphia. The drug is behind a terrifying 26 per cent of all overdose deaths in Pennsylvania, the National Institutes of Health reported.