With more than 27 million people suffering in recent years from a drug abuse disorder, it’s not uncommon in addiction for one to turn to whatever substances they can find just to get high — even if it means drugs not intended for humans.
This desperate search has led some people to abuse veterinary medications, especially pet owners who may start using medications meant for their dogs or cats themselves.
Xylazine, or “tranq” in its street vernacular, is one example, a veterinary sedative that has found its place as a recreational drug within the last 20 years with some devastating and poisonous consequences, leading to addiction, a prevalence of severe xylazine wounds, and the risk of overdose when mixed with other drugs.
What Is Tranq?
Xylazine/tranq is a non-controlled U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved as a veterinary anesthetic for use on dogs, cats, horses, fallow deer, mule deer, and elk, but not on humans.
However, that hasn’t stopped people from seeking it — a central nervous system depressant — out as an illicit drug. Xylazine is known for inducing a host of different effects, including drowsiness, slowed heart and breathing rates, relaxed muscles, constricted pupils, and minimized brain activity.
These reactions can be so powerful that xylazine is often coined “tranq dope” or the “tranq zombie drug” for the almost semi-conscious, catatonic state it can place someone in when taking it in larger doses — not to mention the prevalence of xylazine skin ulcers. A visible sign that someone is abusing the drug, these wounds can become infected and lead to other serious health issues.
How Do People Use Tranq?
Tranq is rarely taken on its own but is more commonly mixed with other drugs, mainly as a cost-cutting ingredient or added to substances to enhance their effects (or decrease their side effects). The drug is generally injected into either a vein or muscle (which can lead to tranq sores), but it can also be snorted or swallowed in tablet form.
Tranq Facts
Xylazine is most often found laced with illegal fentanyl, extending its normally short-lived high and mimicking the euphoric effects of heroin, further increasing its addictive potential.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has seized xylazine and fentanyl mixtures in 48 of 50 states. To further illustrate xylazine’s frequent presence in the drug, 23% of fentanyl powder and 7% of pills seized by the DEA in 2022 also contained tranq.
Xylazine is also known to be mixed with other drugs, including heroin, cocaine, benzodiazepines, and methamphetamines, as well as other opioids. Many times, illegal drug users may not be aware when xylazine has been added to the drugs they’re using, and this may contribute to the alarming increase in xylazine overdose rates, fatal and nonfatal.
Do the numbers point to a potential tranq epidemic? In a 2023 report by the National Center for Health Statistics, drug overdoses involving tranq were 35 times higher in the 3-year period from 2018 to 2021. During this time, the number of drug overdose deaths rose sharply from 102 to 3,468. Men, according to the study, are more likely to overdose on xylazine, and in the last year of the study, xylazine overdose deaths were highest in people aged 35 to 44.
According to the DEA, xylazine-positive overdose deaths have also shown increases by region, where deaths from 2020 to 2021 surged 1,127% in the U.S. South, 750% in the West, 516% in the Midwest, and 103% in the Northeast. Its use is particularly widespread in cities like Philadelphia, where in 2022, it infiltrated over 90% of the street drug supply’s tranq dope samples, contributing to 34% of unintentional deaths by overdose.
What’s the Difference Between Tranq and Xylazine?
Xylazine and tranq are one and the same. The latter is simply the street name for the former when it’s used illicitly, so there’s no difference between the two.
Though the names are essentially interchangeable — one a slang name, the other its proper medicinal name, this distinction does matter because the term “tranq” can help identify its risks and raise awareness more accurately of its damaging effects.
Why Is Tranq Dangerous?
Tranq may often be added to opioids to heighten and prolong their effects, but unlike drugs like fentanyl or oxycodone, xylazine is not reversible with naloxone (brand name Narcan) since it is not an opioid itself. However, the CDC notes that since xylazine is often present in drugs like fentanyl, first responders should still administer naloxone in the event of an opioid overdose.
The immediate effects of a tranq high reveal the potency of the drug, but what are some xylazine side effects? Among decreased heart and breathing rates, xylazine is also responsible for extremely low blood pressure, memory loss, and even cardiac arrest in people who abuse tranq — presumably due to the electrical disturbances created when one’s heart ceases beating, studies note. Duee to tranq’s similarities to opioids, symptoms of a xylazine overdose closely resemble that of an opioid overdose, such as:
- Unresponsiveness or complete unconsciousness
- Shallow breathing or no breathing at all
- Several sedated, immobile hours in one position, e.g., leaned forward or slumped against a wall
- Blue lips or fingernails, a sign of receiving limited oxygen
- Gurgling or snorting sounds from the person’s mouth
What Are Xylazine Wounds?
Track marks are common among people who regularly take heroin intravenously, and the effects of injecting tranq are similar. Repeated xylazine abuse, notes the National Institute on Drug Abuse, is linked to xylazine skin wounds, aka tranq drug wounds, including open xylazine sores and xylazine skin ulcers — even in areas far from one’s injection point.
A study on xylazine wounds from Penn University’s Center for Addiction Medicine and Policy elaborates. “Initially, the skin blisters, most commonly around sites of injection. These blisters can then coalesce into deeper ulcers. Ulcerations may be deep and reach full thickness, with exposed tendon and bone.”
Xylazine-associated wounds, the center notes, may become superinfected. Left untreated, without proper wound care, they can lead to gangrene and even require amputation.
Tranq Addiction Treatment Options
Treating a drug abuse disorder is not only about one’s physical dependency. In fact, addressing the psychological aspects of addiction is imperative to addressing the root of one’s problem. Why did you begin using xylazine? What motivates you to keep using it? How would you describe your relationship with the drug? What does a future free of it look like?
These are questions ultimately explored through therapy within the construct of a few different environments.
Psychotherapy
An indispensable cornerstone of addiction treatment, psychotherapy equips you with the tools you need to first understand the nature of your addiction. What is the underlying cause, and how can you face it to defeat negative thinking and overcome it? At Royal Life, it takes shape in two ways:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is geared toward changing unhelpful cognitive distortions and behaviors. Its goal is to identify and analyze thoughts that often lead to self-destructive behavior — here, xylazine abuse — and re-train your mind to not only start releasing emotional stress brought on by drug addiction but to think more positively in a manner supportive of your well-being.
Once you and your therapist start breaking down some difficult mental barriers, you can begin moving forward down a sober path. Your therapist can help you, through CBT, develop relaxation techniques and explore exposure therapy, cognitive restructuring, and behavioral activation.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Dialectical behavioral therapy, or DBT, is like a cousin to CBT. It’s an emotion-based therapy designed to help connect the dots between your thoughts and how they influence your emotions and actions. According to the Cleveland Clinic, with DBT, your therapist will help teach you about mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotional regulation — foundational aspects to overcoming xylazine addiction.
How Long Does Addiction Treatment Take?
The duration of addiction treatment can vary depending on one’s individual needs, but it often involves a few distinct phases following a structured, well-thought-out trajectory:
Detox
Detox is the first step to overcoming addiction, and one that can’t be skipped. When drugs or illicit substances maintain an unhealthy presence in the body, the most effective way to begin talk therapy is to remove it and start with a clean slate, where any withdrawal symptoms are safely managed in a medically supervised environment. Detox is never about leaving you to your own devices but being supported and bolstered every step of the way by caring, compassionate staff who are committed to your needs.
Residential Treatment
In residential treatment, you have a safe space to live, receive, and focus on 24/7 care without distractions. Royal Life’s inpatient program teaches you the life skills you need to transition back into everyday living, forever free of tranq. Inpatient programming at the Prescott location consists of five hours of group therapy per day plus individual therapy sessions.
Outpatient Treatment
Outpatient treatment remains a flexible option during drug rehab for people not requiring a 24/7, more rigorous atmosphere of residential inpatient or if you’re looking to continue treatment after leaving a residential program but still need ongoing support to avoid relapse. Attending outpatient treatment is ideal for some because it allows you the opportunity to go home every night while attending therapy during the day.
Aftercare
Our philosophy is that recovery doesn’t end at the conclusion of treatment. Facilitate long-term recovery through aftercare — at Royal Life, a 12-week program as a continuum of care following detox and residential inpatient. As treatment is tailored, so is aftercare. You’ll work closely with your therapist and a case manager to determine what types of services will serve you best following treatment for xylazine addiction, from sober living homes, support groups (like Narcotics Anonymous), and regular therapy sessions to help you stay on track and maintain your sobriety.
Find a Tranq Recovery Program Near Me
Our goal is to restore the mind, body, and spirit of each person who enters Royal Life Centers for tranq addiction, no matter the severity or unique circumstances of your relationship with addiction. The best part is that with drug rehab, you remain in control of your recovery; here, we encourage each guest who walks through our doors to be fully involved in their own healing process.
There is an endpoint to xylazine addiction, and the path to recovery starts just a few steps away. If you or a loved one is struggling with a tranq dependency, don’t hesitate to contact us today.
REFERENCES:
- HHS, SAMHSA Release 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health Data | SAMHSA
- Unsettling trend: The alarming rise of human abuse of veterinary drugs and its consequences – PMC
- What is xylazine? A medical toxicologist explains
- What You Should Know About Xylazine | Overdose Prevention | CDC
- Xylazine | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
- New Analysis Looks at Drug Overdose Deaths Involving Xylazine | Blogs | CDC
- Xylazine: A Drug That Naloxone Can’t Combat | Get Smart About Drugs
- Xylazine (Tranq): What you need to know about the new street drug taking over Philly. — Substance Use Philly
- Animal Sedative Mixed With Fentanyl Brings Fresh Horror to US Drug Zones – The New York Times
- Xylazine | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
- The Spectrum of Bone and Soft Tissue Destruction in Deso-morphine and Xyalzine Use Disorder – PMC
- Xylazine Wounds – CAMP
