The Martin County Sheriff said they are very concerned as they are beginning to see a drug called xylazine, for veterinary use, for large animals like horses and cattle, mixed with heroin and fentanyl .
Laboratory analysis for heroin carried out after the arrest late last year of a woman in Stuart indicated that the veterinary drug was present.
William Snyder, Martin County Sheriff, states that “Xylazine is a liquid and it is produced legally and used legally by veterinarians, and those who use it illegally take this liquid and add it to heroin or fentanyl. “.
Also known as a zombie drug and a tranquilizer, it has a sedating effect that leaves people drowsy and out of control of their bodies.
“We have pictures of the injection site when people are using it and sticking the needle through their arm and the damage to muscle and fat tissue is catastrophic.”
Those who suffer from an overdose of opioids mixed with this ingredient, the antidote that saves them, Narcan, does not work.
Dr Arturo Loaiza – Bonilla says “it’s very worrying because obviously they’re using drugs that are used for animals, it’s also not an opioid, so fentanyl can be reversed through the use of Narcan, because it reverses the process that produces fentanyl, but when they start to be mixed with other agents that are not reversed by this drug, we are dealing with something much more complex.
The sheriff assured us that when he saw this drug start showing up in the northeast last year, he knew it was only a matter of time before it hit the south. from Florida, and he was right.