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The U.S. has named a veterinary tranquilizer as an “emerging threat” when it’s mixed with the powerful opioid fentanyl, clearing the way for more efforts to stop the spread of xylazine.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy announced the designation Wednesday, the first time the office has used it since the category for fast-growing drug dangers was created in 2019.
Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the drug policy office, said xylazine (pronounced ZAI’-luh-zeen) has become increasingly common in all regions of the country.
It was detected in about 800 drug deaths in the U.S. in 2020 — most of them in the Northeast. By 2021, it was present in more than 3,000 fatalities —with the most in the South — according to a report last year from the Drug Enforcement Administration.
“We cannot ignore what we’re seeing,“ Gupta said. „We must act and act now.
