What there is to know
- As New Jersey law enforcement continues a criminal investigation into the fentanyl overdoses of five women, one of whom died, at an upscale shopping mall, federal drug authorities are warning even more dangerous substances.
- Fentanyl, which is what the women ingested in the Shops at Riverside case last week, can be used in combination with drugs such as cocaine or heroin for a stronger effect. It’s said to be an opioid up to 100 times stronger than heroin, and the DEA says it’s mixed with something to make it even more dangerous to the lives of those who use it.
- Also called “Tranq”, xylazine is a powerful sedative federally approved for veterinary use. Increasingly, officers are seeing dealers mixing it with fentanyl, which they say increases the risk of users dying from an overdose.
NEW YORK – As New Jersey law enforcement pursues a criminal investigation into the fentanyl overdoses of five women, one of whom died, at an upscale shopping mall, federal drug authorities are warning against even more dangerous substances. .
Fentanyl, which is what the women ingested in the Shops at Riverside case last week, can be used in combination with drugs such as cocaine or heroin for a stronger effect. It’s said to be an opioid up to 100 times stronger than heroin, and the DEA says it’s mixed with something to make it even more dangerous to the lives of those who use it.
That something is called xylazine, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said in a public warning earlier this week.
And he can eat your meat.
“Xylazine poses the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl even deadlier,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement associated with the alert.
Also called “Tranq”, xylazine is a powerful sedative federally approved for veterinary use. Increasingly, officers are seeing dealers mixing it with fentanyl, which they say increases the risk of users dying from an overdose.
Milgram said the DEA has seized such mixtures in all but two US states. Lab tests show that 23% of all fentanyl powder seized by his office last year and 7% of fentanyl pills contained xylazine.
Xylazine is not an opioid, so Narcan, which initially helped revive women in New Jersey last week, will not reverse its effects. People who inject drug mixtures containing them can develop serious injuries, including necrosis, the breakdown of human tissue, which can lead to amputation.
According to the CDC, 107,735 Americans died between August 2021 and August 2022 from drug poisoning, with 66% of those deaths involving synthetic opioids like fentanyl, according to the DEA warning.
The Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Cartel in Mexico, which use chemicals largely sourced from China, are primarily responsible for the vast majority of fentanyl trafficking in communities across the United States, the agency added. .