The White House is marshaling a new plan to try to beef up testing, tracking and treatment for street drugs laced with xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer that has contributed to a surge of overdose deaths across the country.
The administration listed xylazine combined with fentanyl as an emerging threat back in April. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that last year, the veterinary drug was linked to nearly 11% of all fentanyl overdoses.
Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said xylazine has now been detected in nearly every state.
"If we thought that fentanyl was dangerous, fentanyl-combined xylazine is even deadlier," Gupta told reporters.
In a new plan released Tuesday, Gupta's office outlined several steps it plans to take to try to decrease the number of deaths from xylazine. Over the next 60 days, a group of federal agencies will add more details about how they'll put the plan into action.
Increased research and data collection are a priority, Gupta said, "to see the full picture of this threat."
The office also wants to focus on treatments for xylazine-related overdoses. When xylazine is combined with fentanyl, it can complicate the use of medications like Narcan that work to reverse opioid overdose, since xylazine itself is not an opioid.
Additionally, xylazine produces what Gupta described as "deep flesh wounds" that are challenging to treat. "As a physician, I've never seen wounds this bad at this scale," he said.
Gupta said the government is also working on ways to stop online imports of xylazine and its ingredients from China and Mexico for street drugs, while making sure that veterinarians can still get the legal supplies that they need.
2024-12-25 10:512449 view
2024-12-25 09:452121 view
2024-12-25 09:45566 view
2024-12-25 09:431413 view
2024-12-25 09:431650 view
2024-12-25 09:331064 view
The number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week and
Crews searching for a sub that went missing while taking five people to the wreckage of the Titanic
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's team is serving up some royal tea for critics of the couple.Nearly