Everything you need to know about 'tranq dope', the flesh-rotting drug being ... trends now
The streets of America are being flooded by a new terrifying drug that turns patients into zombies and leaves them with gaping sores.
Xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer approved in the US for cows and horses, is now flooding the illicit US drug market, with drug dealers cutting everything from cocaine to heroin with the powerful sedative.
But it is most often used to cut fentanyl, the lethally potent synthetic opioid that already kills tens of thousands of Americans every year.
According to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), xylazine is readily available for purchase on internet sites in both liquid and powder form for as little as $6.
The drug is currently sweeping across the country and is readily available online for as little as $6
The agency say that sites are frequently showing no association to the veterinary profession or any requirements to prove a legitimate need for it.
The DEA said that prices varied between $6 and $24 from overseas suppliers.
DailyMail.com found numerous sites situated in both the US and China which would ship out the drug in powder of liquid form.
According to listings on Chinese sites, 'crude' quality Xylazine powder can be safely delivered to your home address from a biotech company based in Hebei province.
Other US based sites, primarily pet pharmacies, also have the drug available for prices starting at $27.
In a public safety alert, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said: 'Xylazine is making the deadliest drug threat our country has ever faced, fentanyl, even deadlier.
'DEA has seized xylazine and fentanyl mixtures in 48 of 50 States.
'The DEA Laboratory System is reporting that in 2022 approximately 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of fentanyl pills seized by the DEA contained xylazine.'
DailyMail.com has found listings from suppliers in China which have the drug available for as list as $10 a kg
According to the supplier, the quality of the drug is 'crude' and comes in a yellow color
The drug has now saturated the streets of Los Angeles, causing local authorities to issue warnings against the use of the drug
Xylazine is an animal tranquilizer developed in the 1960s to help vets working to treat cows, horses and sheep among other animals.
It is commonly sold under brand names including Rompun and Anased.
The drug works by stimulating animals' muscles to relax, and also as an analgesic — relieving pain. It does this by prompting less norepinephrine and dopamine to be released into the central nervous system.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved xylazine for use in animals. There have been few studies on its effect on humans.
In the drug supply, it is often cut with fentanyl and other drugs and reduces the number of times an addict needs to get a shot.
Emma Roberts, a senior director at the National Harm Reduction Coalition in New York, previously told DailyMail.com that adding xylazine had allowed drug users to go from injecting themselves six to eight times a day on average to get a high, to three to four.
The drug is not an opioid but is often mixed with opioids — such as fentanyl — when it is used to augment it. Because of this, people who take it are more difficult to treat with the overdose-reversing drug naloxone.
Los Angeles officials are trying to stop the spread of the flesh-eating drug xylazine - also known as 'the zombie drug' - that has taken over the city
Los Angeles county is attempting to do something to alleviate the problem by tracking the drugs presence throughout the city
The drug has spread to Los Angeles of late, with news crews capturing people hunched over and on the ground, strung out on the drug
A massive skin lesion caused by xylazine. Users often exacerbate the problem by injecting the painkiller into their festering wounds. This image was published in a journal in 2021 and shows the lesion stretching from the hand up the forearm
The Drug Enforcement Administration says
