CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — A potent animal tranquilizer is being linked with nearly 200 opioid deaths in Michigan, health officials warn.
Between 2019 and 2021, Xylazine has been identified in 171 deaths in the state according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Experts say it is almost certainly being undercounted, but stress that it is not always clear if Xylazine is the cause of death.
“It’s making its way through the illicit drug supply," said Dr. Varun Vohra, the director of the Michigan Poison and Drug Information Center.
“We’ve found a lot of evidence of it being in stimulants as well, like amphetamine and methamphetamine.”
Shannon Phillips is an epidemiologist for the Washtenaw County Health Department. She reports that in her county alone, 8% of opioid-related deaths between January 2021 and May 2022 were linked to Xylazine.
The drug is a powerful central nervous system depressant that can stop your breathing, cause brain damage and lead to death.
It is most often added to fentanyl but it can be mixed into heroin or pressed into pills. But unlike fentanyl, its effects cannot be reversed.
“Since Xylazine is not an opioid, it does not respond to Narcan or Naloxone, which is the medication that can reverse an opioid overdose,” Phillips said.
Most hospitals do not test for Xylazine, though that may change as the drug becomes more common.
One of the drug’s hallmarks is painful skin ulcers.
“Many of the wounds we’ve seen recently…have been a little bit more severe,” said Dunya Barash, the director of operations, Families Against Narcotics. “And we do correlate that with potentially being Xylazine.”
David Clayton is program director for HARM:LESS, a street medicine and harm reduction program that’s part of Families Against Narcotics.
He stresses that “overdose death rates are not lying."
RELATED: Click Here to learn more about resources provided by HARM:LESS
“The drug supply right now is probably the worst it’s ever been,” Clayton said. “We don’t really know what’s actually in the drug supply.”
Whether someone has fallen victim of Xylazine or a drug cut with something else, the goal of organizations like HARM: LESS is to meet those struggling with addiction wherever they are and help them find treatment.
“Substance abuse is a clinical disease,” Clayton said. “If we come at it from a clinical matter and further expansion on of accessing treatment, accessing medical care, that’s the biggest thing.”
