By Jondi Gumz
The County of Santa Cruz reports its first death from xylazine, a tranquilizer used to sedate large animals and increasingly used by drug dealers to enhance the euphoric effects of fentanyl or increase street value.
A 35-year-old woman who was found unresponsive in Santa Cruz died in early June. Postmortem toxicology found the drug (also known as tranq) and deadly fentanyl.
“This tragic event is an important alert to the community that xylazine is confirmed to be present in drugs in Santa Cruz County,” said Dr. David Ghilarducci, County of Santa Cruz EMS medical director. “Fentanyl, alone, is extraordinarily dangerous and is devastating communities across the country. The addition of xylazine compounds the risk of street drugs.”
Chronic use causes dramatic, disfiguring wounds, usually on a person’s legs or arms.
The rate of overdose deaths involving xylazine increased from .03 per 100,000 people in 2018 to 1.06 per 100,000 people in 2021, according to a federal study.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reported in October that the drug is relatively inexpensive and many drug buyers are completely unaware that xylazine has been mixed in with fentanyl or heroin.
Some users report the withdrawal symptoms are as, or more, severe than from heroin or methadone, according to the DEA. Symptoms include sharp chest pains and seizures.
A xylazine overdose is not reversed by naloxone, the life-saving medication that can save people from a fentanyl overdose, but Ghilarducci said it should be given to people experiencing overdose to reverse the opioid component. Naloxone, or Narcan, can restore breathing, and it is not expected to harm someone under the influence of xylazine.
The federal study found the highest numbers of fentanyl death where xylazine was found in Connecticut, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
In March, Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel Valley) introduced a bill to add xylazine to the Controlled Substances Act and in a year request a report on its illicit use from the Drug Enforcement Administration. The bill was referred to the subcommittee on health.