Deadly drug on the streets of New York turns people into zombies with sores all over their bodies

A powerful animal tranquilizer has become a dangerous street drug. Xylazine (also known as "tranq") is increasingly appearing on the streets of New York City. Its use has deadly consequences, reports DailyNews.

Xylazine is called a zombie drug. It leaves horrible sores on people's bodies and knocks them unconscious on the spot - even in the middle of the sidewalk.

The situation in New York

Xylazine has been found in drug trafficking in 48 of the 50 states. New York has not been as hard hit as the rest of the country.

Data shows that the percentage of fatal xylazine overdoses citywide nearly doubled from 2021 to 2023, from 14% to 23%.

Jump overdosestranquilizer-related deaths were particularly significant in Manhattan (from 12% to 22%) and Queens (from 11% to 20%). The highest rates in 2023 were recorded in the Bronx and Staten Island, at 26% and 28%, respectively.

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The statistics only cover October 2023. Bridget Brennan, head of the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, expects the trend to continue to skyrocket in 2024.

A tranquilizer was present in nearly one-third, or 31%, of the deaths related to opioids in 2023, compared to 22% in 2022.

As Anne Milgram, the administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, said, “Xylazine is the most lethal drug threat our country has ever faced. It is worse than fentanyl.”

In Kensington, Philadelphia, tranquilizers have taken over the drug market. On the street, you can see many people in a drug-induced stupor with festering sores on their bodies. The characteristic sores, especially on the lower extremities, sometimes lead to amputation.

Hellish mixture

In early October, authorities arrested a suspected drug dealer who had $1 million worth of cocaine and fentanyl hidden in his truck and apartment in Queens. The fentanyl was laced with xylazine.

Xylazine is almost always cut with fentanyl and other drugs.

“We almost never see it in isolation,” Brennan noted, so quantifying the problem can be difficult.

What makes the fentanyl-tranquilizer cocktail so dangerous is that xylazine is a sedative, not an opioid. It does not respond to the opioid antidote Narcan, which can save people who overdose on heroin or fentanyl.

Despite the increased availability of Narcan (available over the counter), New York City had the highest number of overdose deaths in history last year.

Jasmine Budnella, director of outreach at Vocal-NY, believes new approaches are needed to treat tranquilizer overdoses.

“Xylazine is not an opiate, so Narcan is not intended for it,” she explained. “And so we need different strategies to respond to overdoses that could potentially involve xylazine.”

Oxygen is particularly effective in treating tranquilizer overdoses that do not respond to Narcan.

"Overdose prevention centers, two of which are in Manhattan, take the use of oxygen very seriously," Budnella said. "We need to make sure that oxygen continues to flow to people's brains."

Xylazine slows down people's breathing.

Terrible ulcers on the bodies

That xylazine is increasingly finding its way onto the streets of New York is not only supported by the data - more and more people are showing up in the city with open wounds on their arms and legs.

Harm reduction workers among drug users have noticed not only an increase in the severity of skin lesions, but also an increase in the number of people suffering from them.

“New Yorkers have a huge number of leg ulcers and arm ulcers,” said Joel Theron, director of harm reduction at the Alliance for Positive Change. “About two years ago, we really started seeing an influx. People are definitely concerned about it.”

“Before 2022, only three or four out of every 20 people asked us for ulcer care products,” Theron said. “Now it’s probably 15 out of every 20.”

"People are constantly showing us wounds and asking, 'What do you think I should do?' And I told them to go to the emergency room immediately," Theron said.

Test strips that can detect whether their drugs have been laced with xylazine were introduced a year and a half ago. They quickly became one of Alliance's most sought-after products.

Overdoses are the leading cause of death among homeless New Yorkers. Overdose rates among black and brown New Yorkers continue to rise, while rates among white New Yorkers are leveling off.