WALDEN- State Assemblyman Brian Maher (R, Walden) has proposed a measure that would require the commissioner of health to conduct a study to identify, analyze, report, and medically combat new or previously unseen opioid compounds found in xylazine overdose patients. According to the bill, the purpose of the study is for the department of health to establish more efficient overdose medical treatment protocols.
Xylazine, commonly called “tranq,” is an animal tranquilizer not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for human use. According to Maher, the drug has been incorporated into illicit drugs such as cocaine as a way to cut costs and maximize a user’s high.
“Xylazine in illicit street drugs has been around for decades, and still, our state is no more prepared to fight the drug that is taking lives every day. Every community is affected by the ravages of this drug. Right now, our state is going at it blindly and we can’t effectively help anyone,” said Maher.
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration division in New York reports that about 15 percent of tested drugs in the Northeast regional laboratory included xylazine, and 85 percent of those drugs were also found to be laced with fentanyl. The rise in overdoses can be attributed, in part, to this combination.
In March of this year, State Senator James Skoufis (D, Cornwall) introduced legislation to to designate xylazine as a schedule III depressant controlled substance. Its long-term effects can be gruesome: xylazine can cause nasty infections at the user’s injection site that won’t heal, leading to open sores, rotten tissue, and, in many cases, requiring amputation. Xylazine also increases extreme drowsiness, irregularities of heart and respiratory functions, and coma-like symptoms, causing users to appear as “zombies.” Narcan, the overdose reversal drug widely administered to heroine and fentanyl users, has no effect on the sedative.
“These drugs are ruining lives and killing people, and New York needs to be proactive in fighting
to save these people and our communities,” said Maher.
