Another deadly drug is sweeping across the country under President Joe Biden.
This one has horrific consequences for its users.
And Florida is trying to stop one zombie drug from spreading with this bold move.
Use of the new zombie drug named tranq surges in Florida
The country is dealing with a drug overdose crisis from fentanyl pouring across the southern border.
Another drug has become popular as federal and state governments government crackdown on fentanyl.
Xylazine is a sedative used by veterinarians on large animals.
It has been sold and abused by humans under the street name tranq.
Seminole County, Florida medical director Todd Husty said that the drug has devastating side effects.
“It’s actually an anesthetic drug to put big animals, cows, and pigs to sleep to do surgery,” Husty explained.
It earned the nickname the zombie drug because it causes users to have sores and rotting flesh.
“So it can cause a complete decrease of blood supply to that area,” Husty said. “You don’t get blood supply that tissue is going to die, and when it dies, it rots.”
Drug dealers have started to mix fentanyl with tranq.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said that overdose deaths from fentanyl cut with tranq jumped by 276% from 2019 to 2022.
Florida lawmaker introduces a bill to get tough on tranq
The federal government has not classified xylazine because it has a legitimate use on animals.
Florida has classified the drug as a controlled substance which makes it illegal to sell, possess, or distribute.
State Representative Rachel Plakon (R-FL) introduced House Bill 57 to add penalties for breaking the law on tranq.
Manufacturing or distributing tranq would be a felony punishable by up to three years in prison under her bill.
Criminal penalties for trafficking tranq would increase based on the quantity of the drug.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody issued a dire warning about the dangerous new street drug.
“Floridians need to be aware that xylazine is making one of the deadliest drugs in history, fentanyl, even deadlier,” Moody explained. “Xylazine is a sedative and therefore resistant to standard opioid reversal treatments such as Narcan. There has never been a more dangerous time to take a chance on any illicit substance, and this drug is only making the problem worse.”
Many drug users have no idea what they are taking or what they think they are taking has been cut with.
“It’s cheap, it is easily accessible, and drug users often mix it with fentanyl, leaving users in the dark about what they are actually taking,” Moody said. “These drugs have no warning labels; instead, it is buyer beware, and if you are wrong about whatever is in the drugs, the price you could pay will be your life.”
She warned that users could be paying with their limbs.
“Even if you do not die, people who use xylazine are developing rotting skin lesions, their limbs are rotting away from the injection of this substance,” Moody stated.
The drug crisis has grown to horrifying new levels under Joe Biden.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
