New York Senator James Skoufis has introduced legislation to designate xylazine, known as a “zombie drug”, as a schedule III depressant controlled substance.
The drug, an animal sedative primarily administered to horses during painful surgeries, is being mixed with heroin and fentanyl to stretch supplies and increase potency.
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.” Naloxone, the overdose reversal drug widely administered to heroine and fentanyl users, has no effect on the sedative.
“Xylazine has been wreaking havoc in cities across the country and law enforcement are seeing the drug take hold in New York,” said Skoufis. “We must act quickly to prevent the heroine and fentanyl epidemic from becoming much, much worse. Addiction plagues each of our communities, but the ghastly effects of xylazine don’t have to. I’m eager to work with our partners in law enforcement to give them the tools they need to keep this dangerous sedative out of our neighborhoods and protect those living with addiction.”
Xylazine has overwhelmed parts of Philadelphia and xylazine/fentanyl-related deaths are on the rise in New York City, per the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
