With overdoses at record highs, a veterinary tranquilizer spreading through the U.S. drug supply poses new threats
It was in the mid-2010s, the researchers heard, when “tranq dope” took off in Philadelphia.
They knew that “tranq dope” — opioids that contained the veterinary tranquilizer xylazine — was already a fixture in the drug supply in Puerto Rico and had sporadically turned up in overdose reports in Philadelphia as far back as 2006. But now, people who used drugs and sold drugs told the researchers that xylazine had become a sought-after substance, and it had become a much more prevalent element of the local drug supply.
