Tranq ‘found in 90% of seized drugs’ warns doctor who says it was never approved for humans & causes horror amputations
A DOCTOR is issuing a warning after a street drug was found in “90 percent of seized drugs,” saying it was never approved for humans. Xylazine, also known as “tranq,” is an animal tranquilizer that causes severe skin ulcers to erupt from injection sites, causing rotting flesh and sometimes multiple amputations. The US SunClinical psychologist Eric D. Collins spoke with The U.S. Sun about the dangers of ‘tranq’ an animal tranquilizer that causes rotting flesh[/caption] GettyThe substance was found in up to 90 percent of confiscated drugs in Philadelphia, said Collins[/caption] Public health officials have issued warnings about the veterinary drug after it cropped up in 48 states. People suffering from opioid addiction turn to tranq in order to lengthen the oftentimes short high from fentanyl. But even those who are not actively seeking out the drug could succumb to its lethal effects after Xylazine killed a record of nearly 107,000 people in the United States in 2021. Speaking exclusively to The U.S. Sun, clinical psychologist Eric D. Collins warned of the dangers of tranq and how it’s being laced in pills across the country. “What makes this drug so deadly for human users, it’s never been approved for use in human beings,” Dr. Collins said. “In what we’ve seen in the drug supply, where it’s been added to fentanyl, it causes complications. “Even if a person uses it in one part of their body by injection or perhaps even by inhaling it, snorting it as it were, it can cause skin damage.” Dr. Collins, who works as the chief medical officer for Recovery Education & Applied Learning, added that the skin damage caused by the drug can lead to infections that don’t heal. “And in those infections, often in a person’s limbs, their hands or their feet or arms or legs, they can have such a severe infection with complicated additional problems like gangrene that they need to have a part of their body amputated.” Dr. Collins said that he’s seen some people “with multiple amputations of different parts of their body.” The U.S. Sun previously reported that former addicts have even spoken about seeing people continue to inject the drug into their stumps. James Sherman, a former user, told CNN that people “aren’t ready to see” the effects of the horrific drug. “It’s literally people’s flesh rotting, and you can smell it,” he said. Tranq is directly associated with the horrific fentanyl crisis, which has seen tens of thousands of users stop breathing due to the opioid’s depressing qualities. The effects of fentanyl can be reversed with the life-saving drug Naloxone, also known as Narcan. The drug does not stop the deadly consequences of tranq, which is unfit for use on humans. DEADLY SPREAD According to Dr. Collins, it doesn’t cost drug dealers much to add the drug to their product, allowing them to sell it at a higher price and “hook customers.” “We’ve seen in some major cities like Philadelphia, over 90 percent of the confiscated drugs that are fentanyl contained Xylazine as well,” he said. “But in terms of where it’s coming from, I’m not sure.” The shocking statistic comes after parents were warned that drug dealers could use apps like Snapchat to sell counterfeit items to teens that end up being fatal. Zach Didier was 17 years old when he died of fentanyl poisoning from a pill that he thought was Percocet – just two days after Christmas in December 2020, his heartbroken parents said. “Nobody necessarily is looking for Xylazine,” Dr. Collins told The U.S. Sun. “What they’re looking for is the supply of a drug.” Dr. Collins said that dealers will trick users by making substances look familiar when they actually contain fentanyl and tranq. Dealers do this so that they will get hooked faster and come back looking for more, the doctor said. Fentanyl can relieve anxiety and give a powerful sense of “warmth and well-being” which rivals no other drug, experts warn. When cut with fentanyl, Xylazine can induce a semi-conscious state that leaves people’s upper bodies hanging over their legs in the street as they move very slowly or not at all. This is why the lethal substance was dubbed the “zombie drug.” Philadelphia mayoral candidate David Oh told The U.S. Sun that the deadly effects could encourage people suffering from addiction to turn to it. “Deadly drugs sell the best… when addicts get high they are in heaven, and when they’re not high, they’re very unhappy,” Oh said. He added: “They’re living for the high….if they hear about a person who died, that’s it, they’re going for it. “Death is a big seller, it’s a money maker.” CureusXylazine-induced skin ulcers in a person who injects drugs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania[/caption] GettyUsed needles seen on the street during a city sweep of a homeless encampment in New York City[/caption]
A DOCTOR is issuing a warning after a street drug was found in “90 percent of seized drugs,” saying it was never approved for humans.
Xylazine, also known as “tranq,” is an animal tranquilizer that causes severe skin ulcers to erupt from injection sites, causing rotting flesh and sometimes multiple amputations.
Public health officials have issued warnings about the veterinary drug after it cropped up in 48 states.
People suffering from opioid addiction turn to tranq in order to lengthen the oftentimes short high from fentanyl.
But even those who are not actively seeking out the drug could succumb to its lethal effects after Xylazine killed a record of nearly 107,000 people in the United States in 2021.
Speaking exclusively to The U.S. Sun, clinical psychologist Eric D. Collins warned of the dangers of tranq and how it’s being laced in pills across the country.
“What makes this drug so deadly for human users, it’s never been approved for use in human beings,” Dr. Collins said.
“In what we’ve seen in the drug supply, where it’s been added to fentanyl, it causes complications.
“Even if a person uses it in one part of their body by injection or perhaps even by inhaling it, snorting it as it were, it can cause skin damage.”
Dr. Collins, who works as the chief medical officer for Recovery Education & Applied Learning, added that the skin damage caused by the drug can lead to infections that don’t heal.
“And in those infections, often in a person’s limbs, their hands or their feet or arms or legs, they can have such a severe infection with complicated additional problems like gangrene that they need to have a part of their body amputated.”
Dr. Collins said that he’s seen some people “with multiple amputations of different parts of their body.”
The U.S. Sun previously reported that former addicts have even spoken about seeing people continue to inject the drug into their stumps.
James Sherman, a former user, told CNN that people “aren’t ready to see” the effects of the horrific drug.
“It’s literally people’s flesh rotting, and you can smell it,” he said.
Tranq is directly associated with the horrific fentanyl crisis, which has seen tens of thousands of users stop breathing due to the opioid’s depressing qualities.
The effects of fentanyl can be reversed with the life-saving drug Naloxone, also known as Narcan.
The drug does not stop the deadly consequences of tranq, which is unfit for use on humans.
DEADLY SPREAD
According to Dr. Collins, it doesn’t cost drug dealers much to add the drug to their product, allowing them to sell it at a higher price and “hook customers.”
“We’ve seen in some major cities like Philadelphia, over 90 percent of the confiscated drugs that are fentanyl contained Xylazine as well,” he said.
“But in terms of where it’s coming from, I’m not sure.”
The shocking statistic comes after parents were warned that drug dealers could use apps like Snapchat to sell counterfeit items to teens that end up being fatal.
Zach Didier was 17 years old when he died of fentanyl poisoning from a pill that he thought was Percocet – just two days after Christmas in December 2020, his heartbroken parents said.
“Nobody necessarily is looking for Xylazine,” Dr. Collins told The U.S. Sun.
“What they’re looking for is the supply of a drug.”
Dr. Collins said that dealers will trick users by making substances look familiar when they actually contain fentanyl and tranq.
Dealers do this so that they will get hooked faster and come back looking for more, the doctor said.
Fentanyl can relieve anxiety and give a powerful sense of “warmth and well-being” which rivals no other drug, experts warn.
When cut with fentanyl, Xylazine can induce a semi-conscious state that leaves people’s upper bodies hanging over their legs in the street as they move very slowly or not at all.
This is why the lethal substance was dubbed the “zombie drug.”
Philadelphia mayoral candidate David Oh told The U.S. Sun that the deadly effects could encourage people suffering from addiction to turn to it.
“Deadly drugs sell the best… when addicts get high they are in heaven, and when they’re not high, they’re very unhappy,” Oh said.
He added: “They’re living for the high….if they hear about a person who died, that’s it, they’re going for it.
“Death is a big seller, it’s a money maker.”
