The compounds found in spice can be anywhere between 10 and 200 times more potent than THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and they can produce more robust effects, he said. “Right now, we don’t have a drug to reverse an alpha agonist, which is the type of drug these sedatives are. The most important thing is that you call 911,” addiction medicine specialist Dr. James Besante told NewsNation. The dangerous drug can give users a more powerful high, but high doses can cause the heart to slow and fail, leading to sudden cardiac arrest.

Flakka Effects and “High”

They also initiated buprenorphine therapy to treat the patient’s opioid-use disorder. The exact timeline between xylazine exposure and the development of these skin wounds is not known. But they typically seem to occur after repeated xylazine use, O’Neil and Kovach said. Usually, these wounds appear on the arms and legs and do not always occur at the site where someone has previously injected.

What is Flakka (Alpha-PVP) & Is It Addictive?

The illegal global xylazine market has so far mostly seen it mixed with strong opioid drugs, such as heroin or fentanyl. Flakka originally became popular as a new synthetic drug in South Florida with people looking for a cheap high. Flakka is the latest in a selection of synthetic drugs used in the United States.The sobriety strategies illegal substance can sell on the streets for as little as five dollars a hit. Federally, government officials certainly can consider classifying xylazine as a controlled substance. The report also cited a staggering 1,127% rise in xylazine-positive overdose deaths in the South and a 103% spike in the Northeast.

Warning after fourth suspected drugs death

He first discovered the health dangers of K2 in 2010, after noticing a spike in calls to the Missouri Poison Center about young people who had smoked K2. He said these users thought the drug’s effects would be similar to those of marijuana, but they instead experienced stronger symptoms, including hallucinations, extreme agitation, a rapid heartbeat and extremely high blood pressure. Designed to mimic the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in natural marijuana, the artificial substance has far more powerful effects. It was first seen in the United States in 2008, “What K2 does is puts you in a world, a delusional world, have your mind spinning,” said a man who went only by Andrew in an interview with CBS News. “It’s mind-altering.” Synthetic pot is a mixture of dried herbs and even lawn clippings sprayed with chemicals, ground up, and either eaten or smoked. Long available in gas stations, corner stores, and head shops, this unregulated, unpredictable chemical substance is marketed as a legal high.

Skin ulcers

What makes the ‘zombie drug’ so dangerous is that if you overdose on Xylazine mixed with fentanyl, eroine, or other illicit drugs. It’s close to impossible to revive the person, as naloxone, or Narcan, the most common overdose reversal treatment do not work with Xylazine. alcohol use disorder symptoms and causes While many are calling it the new “zombie drug” as it is a more potent version of xylazine, Besante urges people not to dehumanize drug users. Medetomidine, a synthetic drug used as an animal tranquilizer, is the latest street drug to appear alongside fentanyl.

Flakka Withdrawal Symptoms

On block after block in the Kensington district we saw people suffering from addiction who were increasingly finding their opioid supply was being cut by dealers with xylazine. The drug, an animal tranquillizer, is increasingly mixed or “cut” by drug dealers into supplies excessive alcohol use and risks to women’s health of fentanyl which itself is already killing over 100,000 Americans every year. Xylazine, often referred to as Tranq or the zombie drug, has spread across America at such alarming speed that the White House has now released a new six-point action plan to tackle the crisis.

Why a deluge of Chinese-made drugs is hard to curb

For example, Scalzo said, when synthetic cannabinoids attach to receptors in the brain and then interact with dopamine — a brain chemical that affects movement — it may cause users’ arms and legs to feel stiff or locked up. But when the drugs interact with serotonin — a brain chemical responsible for sleep and dreams — it may cause users to feel zombie-like and out of it, he said. For example, Scalzo said, when synthetic cannabinoids attach to receptors in the brain and then interact with dopamine — a brain chemical that affects movement — it may cause users’ arms and legs to feel stiff or locked up. But when the drugs interact with serotonin — a brain chemical responsible for sleep and dreams — it may cause users to feel zombie-like and out of it, he said.

1. The fear of this side effect may put some people off from taking ADHD medication.
2. Medetomidine was first reported in Maryland at the end of 2022 and has now been reported in at least nine states across the U.S. and Canada.
3. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.
4. The New York Times recently noted that the drug-checking machines capable of identifying a substance like tranq can run to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, money that most cash-strapped health departments don’t have.
5. This method of ingestion can make it particularly easy to overdose on flakka.

Although authorities have made it against the law to sell, buy, or possess many of these chemicals, manufacturers sidestep the regulations by constantly changing the chemical makeup of their mixtures. Easy access (a hit costs as little as $1), and the belief that synthetic pot is natural and therefore harmless, are said to have contributed to its popularity. Most people aren’t aware that the effects are unlike marijuana, thus repeated use is uncommon, experts say. A large part of the appeal of synthetic pot is that standard drug screens won’t pick it up. For that reason, active military personnel, people on parole, professional athletes, and those in treatment for substance use disorders are among the earliest reported users of fake weed. Its low cost has made the drug particularly appealing to the homeless population.

Fentanyl is already a powerful drug with a high potential for overdose—which can be life-threatening. The drug is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin as an analgesic, according to the U.S. Now researchers, counselors, and public health officials are pushing for broad-based approaches to deal with the fallout and prevent tranq’s further spread.

Synthetic drugs are illicitly created to produce substances that differ slightly from legal drugs. The designer drug flakka comes in crystal form, and it is typically pink or white. The synthetic drug may be eaten, injected, snorted, or vaporized in e-cigarettes. This method of ingestion can make it particularly easy to overdose on flakka. The Biden administration has also announced plans to disrupt the supply of both fentanyl and xylazine into the country. The precursor products come from China and are mostly converted to tablet or powder form by cartels in Mexico as Sky News exposed earlier this year.