Current:Home > ScamsOverdose deaths involving street xylazine surged years earlier than reported-LoTradeCoin
Overdose deaths involving street xylazine surged years earlier than reported
View Date:2024-12-23 23:08:53
A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Friday found the street drug xylazine surged much earlier than previously reported.
The CDC concluded that by 2021, the "rate of drug overdose deaths involving xylazine was 35 times higher than the 2018 rate."
But the report shows the explosion of xylazine-related deaths began in 2018 with overdose fatalities rising to 627 in 2019 — doubling to 1,499 in 2020 — and then doubling once more to 3,468 in 2021.
This spring, the Biden administration declared illicit xylazine, also known as tranq on the street, an "emergent" threat.
At the time, officials warned the chemical, used by veterinarians as a horse tranquilizer, was spreading fast in street drugs, causing overdose deaths and terrible flesh wounds in people struggling with addiction nationwide.
"I'm deeply concerned about what this threat means for the nation," said Dr. Rahul Gupta, head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy when speaking to reporters in April.
Public health officials say it remains unclear why so many drug dealers began using xylazine as an additive.
Men suffered xylazine-related deaths at twice the rate of women, and Black men appeared particularly vulnerable.
Because drug death data is gathered and analyzed slowly, it's impossible to say with clarity what has happened in the months since 2021. But government officials say there are troubling indicators.
When data for this report was collected, illicit xylazine use was still largely concentrated in the mid-Atlantic states and the Northeast.
According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, xylazine is now turning up in street samples collected across the U.S., surging in the South and West.
Speaking earlier this month Dr. Nora Volkow, head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said public health data on rapidly spreading street drugs like xylazine is often dangerously outdated.
"What is happening right now? I don't know," Volkow told NPR.
"If you want to actually be nimble and flexible and do the interventions on the basis of what you are observing, you need timely data," she said. "Otherwise, you're doing it with your eyes closed."
In most cases, drug policy experts say xylazine is mixed by dealers in a high-risk cocktail with fentanyl, methamphetamines or other illicit drugs.
On Thursday, the CDC released a separate report finding that by 2022, xylazine was being detected in nearly 11% of all fentanyl-related overdoses.
"These data show that fentanyl combined with xylazine is increasingly dangerous and deadly," Gupta said in a statement Thursday.
Xylazine has been widely used for years as a horse tranquilizer. Some in Congress are scrambling to tighten regulations and criminal penalties for misusing the chemical.
U.S. drug deaths, fueled largely by fentanyl but also increasingly by complex street drug cocktails, hit another devastating new record last year, with roughly 110,00o fatal overdoses nationwide.
veryGood! (9479)
Related
- Ryan Reynolds Clarifies Taylor Swift’s Role as Godmother to His Kids With Blake Lively
- Texas health department appoints anti-abortion OB-GYN to maternal mortality committee
- Charlie Colin, founding member of Train, dies at 58: 'The sweetest guy'
- Michigan farmworker diagnosed with bird flu, becoming 2nd US case tied to dairy cows
- Sister Wives' Janelle Brown Details to Meri Why She Can't Trust Ex Kody and His Sole Wife Robyn
- Shay Mitchell Reveals Text Messages With Fellow Pretty Little Liars Moms
- When and where you can see May's Flower Moon
- Why Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake Are Raising Their Kids Away From the Spotlight
- After entire police force resigns in small Oklahoma town, chief blames leaders, budget cuts
- My dying high school writing teacher has one more lesson. Don't wait to say thank you.
Ranking
- Mike Williams Instagram post: Steelers' WR shades Aaron Rodgers 'red line' comments
- Want to See Community Solar Done Right? A Project in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Can Serve as a Model
- Hornets star LaMelo Ball sued for allegedly running over young fan's foot with car
- Man wanted in Florida shooting found by police folded in dryer, 'tumble-ready hideout'
- Women suing over Idaho’s abortion ban describe dangerous pregnancies, becoming ‘medical refugees’
- Lauryn Hill takes top spot in Apple Music's 100 Best Albums, beating 'Thriller,' 'Abbey Road'
- Indiana’s Caitlin Clark says she expects to play against Seattle despite sore ankle
- Patrick Mahomes Breaks Silence on Chiefs Teammate Harrison Butker's Commencement Speech
Recommendation
-
Will Trump’s hush money conviction stand? A judge will rule on the president-elect’s immunity claim
-
Plans to spend billions on a flood-prone East Texas highway may not solve the problem
-
Olympian Mary Lou Retton Responds to Backlash Over Her Daughters Crowdsourcing Her Medical Funds
-
Judge agrees to delay Hunter Biden trial in California tax fraud case as Delaware trial looms
-
USMNT Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal Leg 1 vs. Jamaica: Live stream and TV, rosters
-
Graceland sale halted by judge in Tennessee after Elvis Presley's granddaughter alleges fraud
-
North Carolina House pauses passage of bill that would ban masking for health reasons
-
From 'The Traitors' to '3 Body Problem,' these are the best TV shows of 2024