A new drug is making the fentanyl crisis even more lethal. The new drug, Xylazine, also known as tranq, is an animal tranquilizer approved for veterinary use only. The cartels are lacing fentanyl and other drugs with tranq.
Miranda Lopez, who works for the Drug Enforcement Agency as a New Mexico public health analyst, said the impact is frightening. “When we received that first positive case, it was absolutely, I could say, terrifying, for myself,” Lopez told KOB 4. “So xylazine, also known as tranq, actually just made its way into New Mexico.”
The fentanyl crisis has been devastating the country in recent years. A hundred times more potent than morphine and fifty times more potent than heroin, fentanyl is a killer. There were 50 fatal overdoses in Espanola alone in 2021, Lopez said.
“It’s hard to even put into words the destruction it has taken on our state compared to heroin, which was the opioid we were mostly dealing with, you know,” Lopez said. “A pill, even sometimes half a pill, will end a life.”
Now the addition of tranq is more lethal because it’s not responsive to Narcan kits.
A KOB 4 report examined the crisis and listed enforcement, treatment, and legislation as critical components of battling the drug epidemic.
“By enforcement, I mean enforcing the arrests and going after the drug traffickers,” said Renee Dolan, a drug intelligence officer with New Mexico HIDTA told KOB 4. “It’s not about going after the users.”
Treatment centers visited by KOB 4 lacked a detox center, and legislative efforts have offered slim results. Among more than a dozen bills proposed this legislative session to address fentanyl only five became law, including the official creation of Fentanyl Awareness Day, and the creation of an opioid settlement fund, per KOB 4.
More must be done, Lopez said, adding, “At the end of the day, we are here to tackle the issue head-on, together.”
