A new ‘zombie’ street drug that is more deadly than xylazine is causing overdoses across America.
Medetomidine – a powerful animal tranquilizer used on dogs and cats – is thought to be behind a spate of drug overdose deaths in Chicago this month and appearing in drug supplies in eight other states.
The sedative is being mixed with fentanyl and other street drugs to create deadly cocktails, similar to another drug known as xylazine which began cropping up in illicit supplies during the Covid pandemic.
But officials say it’s estimated to be 200 times more powerful than xylazine and could lead to many of the same shocking side effects – including leaving users in a zombified state.
The green states show where medetomidine has emerged, including California, Colorado, Missouri, Illinois, Florida and North Carolina. The yellow circles represent where overdose outbreaks have occurred, such as Chicago
The DEA says xylazine has now been detected in 48 out of 50 states in the US. A study published in December and involving 60,000 US adult drug tests showed xylazine was detected in samples from most states (pictured above)
Five milligrams of the drug costs around $43, which was developed by Orion Pharmacy and is distributed by Pfizer.
Medetomidine is often cut with other drugs like fentanyl because when mixed with opioids, it greatly increases the sedative effects of each drug, which drug users and dealers may perceive as a better or stronger product.
The drug has most frequently been observed in samples containing fentanyl and xylazine, but the drug has also been identified together with heroin and cocaine, the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education said.
Animal studies of the drug have shown that it initially lowers blood pressure and slows heart rate, which raises the risk of an abnormality in the heartbeat.
In some cases where the dosage is high, it can slow the heart rate so much that it becomes unable to pump enough blood, resulting in heart failure, sudden cardiac arrest or sudden death.
Because medetomidine is not an opioid, it does not respond to naloxone or Narcan, the most common brand of opioid reversal medication.
However, officials advise using naloxone if someone is suspected to have overdosed because medetomidine is almost always used alongside opioids.
A homeless man is seen on streets of the Kensington neighborhood as homelessness and drug addiction hit Philadelphia in Pennsylvania in 2021
Medetomidine can cause serious effects such as hallucinations and sedation.
The drug also slows neurological functions in the body, resulting in confusion and lethargy, as well as symptoms of opioid overdose like shallow breathing and small pupils.
Medetomidine – a powerful animal tranquilizer used on a dogs and cats – is thought to be behind a spate of drug overdose deaths in Chicago
The drug is man-made and its effects are thought to last longer than xylazine.
Another form of the drug, with brand names Dexdor or Precedex, is used in human medicine for sedation and muscle relaxation.
Medetomidine was detected in several seized drug samples across Maryland in July 2022, meaning in could be coming in from abroad. It later resurfaced in Toronto in December 2023.
It has been detected in overdoses in St Louis, Missouri, and appeared in the illegal US drug supply in Philadelphia in April and in Pittsburgh earlier this month.
The substance has also been found in secret laboratory seizures in Ohio, Florida and Canada.
In Indianapolis, Indiana, health officials warned the drug is now being found in local supplies.
Bertha Madras, a drug researchers at Harvard Medical School in McLean Hospital, told NPR she is worried that Mexican cartels and drug gangs inside the US are making new combinations of powerful synthetic drugs.
Until the overdoses between May 11 and May 14, when drug samples tested positive for high levels of medetomidine, Chicago health officials said medetomidine has not been previously detected in the state.
In Chicago, officials said the drugs tested contained other opioid and non-opioid sedatives, including fentanyl, heroin, xylazine, alprazolam, and netizens.
The effects of medetomidine can be intensified when taken with other sedatives.
Back in March 2023, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) sounded the alarm over xylazine, another animal sedative which is also not approved for humans use.
Commonly known as ‘tranq’, the drug is used by dealers as a cheap cutting agent that boosts the effects of fentanyl and other street drugs, giving the impression the drugs are stronger than they are.
But its powerful sedative effects turn users into zombies and cause them to erupt in painful sores as the drug ravages blood vessels, requiring amputation in extreme cases.
Recent CDC data showed that the number of US fatal overdoses fell last year.
There were around 107,500 fatalities in the year to December 2023, the agency estimates, down three percent from 2022, when there were about 111,000.
Explanations could be the expansion of overdose prevention and addiction treatment and the grim possibility that the epidemic has killed so many that now there are basically fewer people to kill.